That's All
by c.blythe15
Summary: An inside view of what would happen if all beloved characters were teenagers, having to deal with teenage problems and the typical high school cliches in life. Named "Waffle Town High," but changed for more exciting purposes. AU that is open to criticism or comments!
1. Chapter 1: First Sights

Waffle high:

Ch. 1: First sights

I looked around and sighed. The rows of metal death traps looked at me, the wave of student body stared condescendingly at me. Yeah, this was just going to be _great._

Being a foster child, you got used to new high schools in strange towns, but even with my experience, Waffle Town High seemed to be the strangest I had ever been to. Complete with town landmarks randomly named after food and shops which had so much small town in them it practically juiced out, I could almost sense I would be the abnormality in a town of norm. With my messy brown hair and reading glasses I always preferred to have on, many people told me I was a dead ringer for Anne Hathaway in "The Princess Diaries." However, for this one special new high school day my glasses stayed home and my hair got slightly tamed, minus the one cow lick in the front which never went down no matter what I did. All in all, once again I thought how great this day could get.

I solemnly walked to the high school office and plopped down on the nearest chair across from the administrator desk. If I turned around, I could see students milling by. They bore no resemblance to the city folk I was used to who dressed in the latest trends and designer labels. Instead, these teens were obviously in clothes their mother's had made. Not in a bad, ugly clothes way, but more along the lines of hewn patches on knees and custom outfits which seemed to suit each person who walked by perfectly. Such as a small, homey looking girl who walked by, whose blue prep school outfit was the exact shade of her hair. Or a muscled guy in a black wife-beater and jeans with a chain, just to symbolize a don't-mess-with-me-because-I-can-smash-your-face attitude. Actually, to think of it, he was pretty cute. I straightened in my chair and properly looked at all these guys. To tell the truth, they were all pretty good looking. Maybe this all wasn't such a bad idea in the first place.

"Elizabeth Pilgrim," a voice called. I turned around and looked at my caller, a tall woman with glasses and an extremely kind face. I smoothed my untamable hair, took a deep breath, and walked into the registrar's office.

"Are you Elizabeth?" she asked. I blinked back at her in a momentary daze, and grinned.

"Yes that's me. Well, at least, it was this morning. I do prefer Lizzy though." I continued grinning, more out of pleasing habit than happiness or politeness.

However, it was very evident this woman did not care. In a very straight-forward attitude, she outlined the school map for me, told me where all my classes were, and went over school policies and what not. This was really how I preferred, in which small talk was a minimum. She ended with a quick school spirit greeting, and wished me good luck. I thanked her and walked out the office staring at my map like a fool. I was tracing the way to my history class, and then-

-walked straight into another human being.

Books were dropped, my papers thrown in the air like marching batons. I never was known for my grace, and secretly prided myself in my somewhat unique ability to fall and lose my balance from just standing in a spot. Thus, I was used to running into people quite often. But never had I walked into someone in such an awkward manner. It was made even worse by just how cute he was. Blue messy hair hidden under a flaming bandanna, red vest, and devilish eyes were what I got, when I had expected a less, handsome runner-into. In the moment we collided, I had somehow managed to get it where I perfectly landed in his extremely defined arms. For a second, all we could do was awkwardly look at each other (as I continually opened my mouth to try to say something, in which all I achieved was the look of a dying fish), and he then rightly stood me up and gathered all my things for me.

"Thank you," I somehow managed to say.

He grinned, showing a slight incisor in his tooth, which added to his boy-ish charm. "No problem, I enjoy helping damsels in distress like that." Scratch the charming part.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "I am definitely not a damsel in distress, thank you very much. I am in fact, of the very opposite nature of a damsel, especially one in distress. I am very.. independent, and have my own ranch right off of town, which is not something a damsel would do."

"So _you're _the culprit of getting the whole town in an upheaval with the purchase of the town lot. I heard it was a girl, but I was not expecting someone like you," he laughed.

I glared; sure he meant to offend me. I bit my bottom lip and started to walk in what I hoped was the correct direction to class, but then he stopped me.

"Your books, Madam Damsel," he smirked. I sighed, reclaimed my fallen property, and then restarted my voyage. Again, the journey was cut short with a gentle hold on my shirt sleeve. "And now where do you exactly think you're going ma'am?"

I turned around. "Class. See, this place we're at, it is called a _school._ At said school, people like us called _students _go to _classes _in order learn about different subjects. And right now, I am currently late for my history class, which I don't know where it is, so I need the time to find it and…" And then I stopped. Not because I didn't have more to say. I definitely had more I could spout out, as around guys I had zero social and tactual skills. But mainly I stopped, because this strange new boy at this point just linked arms with me and continued to lead me through the hall in the exact opposite direction I had been headed earlier.

"You know, I've decided I like having you around chick," he grinned. I could tell he was probably a flirt whom all the girls were desperately in love with, but I knew I was above that, and I could prevail against his almost irresistible charms. However, it was a nice compliment after all, and I did need to be nice to the poor kid, because I could really sense a friendship in the making.

"Well, I can stay around for a while, just as long as you don't call me 'chick.'" I laughed in spite of myself, as this guy was really nigh irresistible.

"Do I get a name from the fair maiden then?" He stopped and held my two arms looking deeply into my dark brown eyes with a gleam.

"It's Elizabeth, but you can just call me Lizzy, I like you well enough that you can do that," I grinned back. "Now, I expect the favor from you sir."

"Psh, the name is Luke. Not nearly as fancy as Elizabeth," he laughed.

"We cannot all be perfect," I tried to say as solemnly as I could, failing miserably. We looked at each other, and just started laughing in the hallway, probably looking like fools to the innocent walker-by. My gut instinct was right; I was definitely going to be good friends with this Luke kid.

He opened the door for me, making me slightly flush, and we walked into the class, in which I quickly introduced myself to the younger teacher, who merely smiled at me. If I had any real complaint about this town, it would be the amount of over smiling achieved by everyone.

She allowed me to sit in a close proximity to Luke, which I was super grateful for because this guy really did amuse me. The lesson was simple, straight forward and a little unexciting, but I guess I was biased due to my absolute love of history.

After class, Luke took me to his group of people he usually hung out with, including the one super buff guy I had seen earlier who was introduced as Owen, a blonde girl who had mile-long legs (which I was semi-jealous of, due to my super short legs in comparison) who was named Kathy, a beach blonde guy who definitely had the body to go with it named Chase, and girl who looked semi-lost, whose name I was informed was Phoebe. All in all, they seemed like a nice group who were easy to talk with and obviously were one of the more popular groups in the small school. As other students passed (especially those with all x-chromosomes), I could almost feel the intensity of some glares as they passed us by. It was very easy to see I somehow single-handedly made friends with one of the most popular guys at the school. This was actually kinda cool on my part, but also, it made me an enemy to others, such as a super sketchy looking girl who just kept glaring at me the whole break.

Besides that though, I was happy to have anyone to really talk to. It was just an added bonus that those people ended up being very nice as well.

Once the bell ring, Luke graciously took me to my Math class, while he headed off to his chemistry class. He gave me a grin at the door, and said he'd come get me after class so he could make sure I ate lunch. I merely laughed at him, mocking his very lame flirting gestures. Math was not a very exciting time, and luckily I didn't have to really go up and introduce myself to the class (a very big plus for me!) We were let out semi-early though, so I went around wandering the halls. I was walking down the hall looking around, but not too looking around in case I looked in a classroom and someone saw me and we made awkward eye contact (which always happened to me). As I was looking, I saw it. It was big. Beautiful. A baby grand, at least. I looked down the hallway, and I walked into the room with it on, as music rooms always had that magic to gravitationally get me into them in some way shape or form. I walked in and breathed it all in, that band room smell of old music, sweat, spit, and hard work. Don't ask me how hard work has a smell, it just does. I glided to the piano, opened the hatch, and sat on the bench.

I plunked a few notes and played out a couple of simple chords. I vocalized my major scales, natural minor, harmonic, myxolodian, lydian, and literally all that jazz. Seemingly I had forgotten how much singing helped just clear my mind and how it just made me happy. I stopped and breathed a little, then started playing a popular love ballad, weaving my voice all throughout it, going high, low, everything. I was in the music, feeling it all, and instead of the song's traditional ending, I instead landed on a perfect 5th chord, reaching the highest I believed I could go. I closed the lid, mainly satisfied, and turned around to see a boy slouching against the wall, obviously listening to me.

Instinct told me to say something very witty or intelligent, but quick thinking had never been my strong point. However, in my defense he looked equally at loss of what to say. He quickly straightened up very awkwardly, and bowed slightly-to probably seem decently polite-, and then he was gone. I opened my mouth in utter confusion, looked at my phone and gasped at how late it had gone. Luke was probably looking for me, or at least I hoped he was looking for me. I jumped up and ran to the cafeteria, the strange new blonde boy completely out of sight.


	2. Chapter 2: Sight of the Mystery Boy

I walked into the cafeteria and was immediately met with hundreds of staring eyes. With a gulp, I tried continuing walking my best just straight, putting left in front of right (as you always start with the left), and mostly not falling straight on my face on the first day of school. Somehow Luke was able to spot me, and he waved me to a table right in the middle of the cafeteria. The group from before was there, while everyone else in the cafeteria merely stared at this table in awe. I was right in assuming everyone there but me were popular, yet I was still invited to sit down. I thought for a moment, wondering what exactly what would happen if only they knew how humble and simple my means were, how poor I was or that I came from many homes because I was a foster kid, and if any of this would matter. However, I knew from experience to not bring up anything personal about my life unless asked, and sometimes not even then. I mean, they didn't really care about my life. I lived my life and I didn't care about it that much, so total strangers would definitely not care. I bit into my peanut-butter and boysenberry jam in silence as everyone else talked and gossiped.

"So where were you after class? I waited around for like, 2 minutes," Luke asked at the same time I took a huge bite of food to eat. I could never understand why all guys did that, as if they couldn't see that you were 'going in for the kill.'

I swallowed my food as quickly as possible and explained "We got out early, so I meandered to the music room. Do any of you do music?" I asked the group diplomatically.

They all looked at each other and laughed. I smiled sadly and tried to laugh along with them; a little crushed my somewhat new friends were degrading a very valuable skill that I had learned to enjoy and utilize. We may have a lot in common, but the lack of not liking music was really going to be a slight problem in the future, I could just tell. Music was such an integral part of my life; I really could not imagine why no one else would like to do it. They began talking again, not really in acknowledgement of me, which I was kind of very okay with. Sometimes, just with certain groups, you began to be tired of their slight pettiness easily, and I could sense myself with getting just a tad frustrated. By the time lunch was over, I sprang up unnaturally and turned to walk to my journalism class (I had needed an extra elective, and that was all that had come up). I walked, once again not really knowing where to go, when Luke came up behind me, taking me out of my daze, and thus scaring the crap out of me.

"Luke! You just, cannot go doing that to people!" I said as I continued walking a little faster and with more purpose, almost daring him to follow me. Which he did, hook line and sinker.

"Hey Lizzy, I am really sorry about lunch. The group, well..," he trailed off, which stopped me enough to look at him. "I think it's really cool music is your thing. See, some people like me are not really good at things, and they wish they can be talented enough to be able to use things like pianos to make other people….." He grinned a little and reached into his pocket. " Now, don't tell Owen this, but," he held out a guitar pick. I looked down and smiled back at him, getting his message. Guess I wouldn't be alone in the music boat.

"Go to class," I hurried him off. He looked down at his watch, groaned, and headed with a running sprint down the stairs to heaven knows what class. I continued walking, hoping I'd gotten the direction to my class right, still slightly amused by what happened. I turned a corner, reaching a dead end. I frowned, looked up in thought, and turned back around. It was then I saw him, the boy from the music room, heading down a horizontal hallway. He was pushing a metallic contraption with wheels and books piled high on them, and seemed to be somewhat struggling with the exertion. Our eyes met and his widened more than I ever think mine could. He looked down and tried pushing it faster to more than likely not have to talk to me. Suddenly I snapped out of my phase, and started jogging up to see and ask him for directions. This seemed to freak him out even more, as he gave up on pushing the cart and instead just kept walking very quickly.

"Hey, hey you!" I called out, following him down the corresponding hallway and stopping right next to the poor abandoned cart. He was already on the other side of the hall at this point, and must have decided I no longer posed any potential threat (since I was oh-so-dangerous looking already), as he turned around to look at me. His albino blonde hair was about as messy as mine, his sweater vest looking very odd and formal and very… out of place in this homey high school. As I meticulously analyzed him, he gave me an irritated expression and I nodded for no reason whatsoever. "Do you know where the journalism classroom is?"

He gave me another strange look, and pointed down the hall behind me and to the left. "Room 37," he stated in a voice of great informative authority. Why on earth he had this room number memorized I was not very sure, but nonetheless, I was no indebted to him for his help.

"Thank you!" I called back to him as I turned around and started going the way he had directed me to.

"You're going to be very late you know," he called back to me. I turned around once again, very surprised he was talking to me, since he practically ran very much on the away from me side not but three minutes ago.

"Yeah I know," I said very lamely. "But, you know, I'm new here, so I might get cut some slack." I awkwardly laughed and shrugged, not really sure how to behave with this strange boy. I tuned again with a little wave and once again ushered down the hall to get to my class. As I rounded the corner, I still saw him staring after me, which for some reason gave me a nice sense of ego-boost which was rare and yet oh so very necessary when you were a teenage girl. I was in deep thought about him (and I still had no idea what his name was), when I spotted the room he had stated earlier and cautiously opened the door. Luckily for me, the teacher was pretty relaxed, and once I explained the circumstances to why I was late, she allowed it this time.

"It is quite a difficult classroom to find if you are not really thinking about it and don't know where you're going," she laughed. I couldn't agree anymore. I was shown some samples of work students did in the paper, and I tried to hide my concern. The pieces were somewhat underdeveloped, with a lot of grammatical errors and somewhat unimportant news topics. But, I thought, I guess in a small town, not much really happens so not much can be said about that.

I was instructed I could start on a piece for the upcoming school paper next class, and to just spend time thinking about something to write upon. This luckily required not very much thought and concentration, and I was able to muse on my first day here as I eagerly awaited the bell ringing. I thought of my new "friends," of the interesting character of Luke, but most of all, I thought of the mysterious blonde boy. I wondered if in the hall he recognized me as the girl who had been at the piano at lunch, or why he didn't look like he wanted to talk to me, but then randomly started a conversation with me. Strange was the only word I could describe his mannerisms with, and I was all the more entranced by it, and by him.

_RRRRRIIIIINNNNGGGGG._ Oh that heavenly sound. I sprang up like everyone else did, and maneuvered my way through the crowd of people to the door and hurried to get out, and was met by Luke.

"Hey there Lizzy," he laughed as we started walking down the hallway. I smiled kindly and looked up to him, suddenly guilty of my conversations and thoughts of the Mystery Boy (of which he would be dubbed in my mind until I actually managed to learn his name). I managed to shake aside my feelings though, and decided engaging conversation with Luke would make me feel better.

"Hello there Luke, or can I call you 'Master Guitar-man,'" I grinned. He looked at me with a furrow on his blue brow and we stopped. I looked up at him, confused. "What's wrong?"

He looked away, then back to me. "I didn't think you of all people would make fun of me for that… I thought you'd think it was cool, and just, never mind..."

I laughed with a shake of my head. "Luke you're so silly! I do think its super cool you play guitar, but of course I'd have to hear you first before I can truly bas e a proper analysis on it all. I was just messing around with you; I would never make fun of something you obviously really like doing."

He smiled again, and we continued walking to the school exit. "It is a secret though," he clarified. I crossed my heart and offered my pinky to him solemnly to show how my recognition of his statement. He merely laughed at my offer, and led me outside. The sun shone brightly and I stretched my arms up to wake me up farther (as the previous night I had not gotten all that much sleep due to slight first-day-nerves). I got once again wrapped in my thoughts, when I turned and realized Luke had been trying to talk to me.

"Could you repeat that pretty please?" I smiled as sweetly as I could manage.

He shook his head and said, "I was just wondering if you'd been around town yet, or if you were still very new that you hadn't, but no I get it, I'm not important!" he cried out dramatically.

I rolled my eyes, and linked arms with him. "Show this town away!"

And that was how I spent the rest of my day. He showed me the Inn, at which Chase and Kathy both worked at (as Chase was apparently this super amazing cook, and Kathy's dad was a bartender). We passed the general store (that Pheobe's dad owned), the infirmary (which I noted because I would probably end up there often due to my accident prone life), and the tailor shop (which I knew immediately I would not spend very much time, or money, at). We passed a couple of random houses, and I was distracted by a big fancy one, and made him stop in front of it.

"Why do you want to see this one Lizzy?" he sighed as I cut him off. It was beautiful and very old-fashioned, which I very much liked. The shutters and flower beds really just made it very perfect.

"It's a very nice house," I stated to him as he rolled his eyes.

"It may be nice and all but trust me; neither you or me is getting in that house any time soon. That is the Mayor and his son's house and believe me, you don't want to go around talking to them. Well, the Mayor is all right, but his son…" he scoffed, "let's just say, we're better off not even talking about him."

He continued the grand tour down the beach to stroll on it (which I found a very pretty seashell), and he introduced me to the local fisherman. He ended the town tour with a very brief glance at town hall, and then hurriedly pulled me back down the stairs. We continued walking to another part of the island where many of the other people's houses were. I expected him to show me his house, but I never saw it, until I finally said:

"Luke, this is nice and all, but I want to see where you live, why haven't you shown me that?"

"I'm getting there!" he said as we walked up a hill and I was greeted with the sight of a lumber mill, the mouth of a cave, and a small house which advertised the selling of seeds (which I dutifully noted as I knew if I wanted to eat for the next year, I needed to start planting fast). We passed Owen, who was pounding away on a very big rock, and stopped, in front of the lumber mill. I looked at him, and realized all day I hadn't noticed a loop on his belt that was just big enough for an axe handle.

"So you're the lumberjack's son?" I asked with slight surprise. Really, I could never have imagined it all day.

"Yeah, I am which is exactly why only you know about my guitar playing. My Dad..." he started pacing, and then turned back to me, "he just wouldn't understand."

"Your secret is very safe with me," I assured with a grin.

"Luke? Luke is that you?" a booming voice called from inside. Luke groaned and turned back to me.

"Duty calls I suppose. I hope you had a fun day," he hugged me, greatly surprising me. He kind of blushed and with a quick "See you tomorrow!" he was inside again. I walked away from his house, and noticed it was getting dark, so I headed back to my house, barely getting there just before dark. I walked in and once again mused on my day. It had been surprisingly not that bad for such a small town, and I had found people to talk to. As I got ready for bed, I once again thought of the Mystery Boy. As I turned off my lights and went to bed, I vowed tomorrow I would find out his name, befriend him, and get to know better the boy who had wandered in my mind all day.


	3. Chapter 3: Library Cliches

I awoke the next day, just utterly pumped for the day that was to come. I stretched upwards and tried to wipe the sleep from my face. Unsuccessful. _Oh well,_ I thought, _today is a new day of awesome fun, and nothing could happen to change that. Speaking of change… _I stood and changed out my super attractive footie pajamas and into a more teenage friendly outfit of my usual green shirt and shorts. As I looked in the mirror, I tried to flatten my hair. Also very unsuccessful. I frowned at my reflection and shrugged, not really caring at this point. I grabbed my bag, and went outside to start my ranching life.

Upon my arrival two days ago (Sunday), I was given a few seeds by the Mayor's direction from the local farm/crop harvesters, which I had planted yesterday before school started. Thus, I needed to water what I think were strawberries and cabbage. Since I wasn't a real farmer yet, obviously my crops were not very big and this job did not take very long at all. _I'm sure,_ I thought again, _this will really take a more time when I truly have something to do._ I took my watering can back inside, grabbed a nice tasty apple, and started on my way to day two.

As I was walking, I started to notice things I hadn't noticed the previous day when Luke had been pointing them out to me, like different wildlife, flowers, trees, and so on. It was pretty nice. Who knew that nature could apparently be so beautiful, when my whole life had been spent in big cities and towering buildings and I could not truly appreciate it. Seeing one story houses was actually refreshing. Being able to wave to people and not worry about getting shot at; that was also very refreshing. All in all, I could tell how much this town was growing on me, and I could really not be happier. As I rounded the corner to the school entrance, I paused, looking up at it again. Yesterday, it had seemed so foreboding, yet today it was a little exhilarating to go. It was just crazy the difference a day made. I started to walk inside, when my hair was tugged in the back.

"Luke, that is not very nice," I frowned, knowing fully who it was before I even turned around (as I was in possession of the psychic ability). He didn't answer so I actually did turn around, and was almost face to face with the Mystery Boy from yesterday (almost, mainly being as I was so short).

"I am not Luke," he said stiffly and very obviously, causing me to laugh at how awkward my mishap had been. He then frowned at this, making me feel very bad. I semi-smiled to try and loosen the tension. No avail…

"So, was there anything particular you wanted to discuss, sir? Or do you just so happen to enjoy these random chats of ours," I laughed again, sure that I was making myself sound very stupid.

He furrowed his eyebrows and handed me a packet of papers that seemed to appear out of nowhere. "I work in the library as often as I can, and there we have student records. You mentioned you were new here, so I took the liberty of starting a new folder for you which will thus be located there. It has your interests, hobbies, birthday, dislikes, and so on. Usually I write up everyone else's but….," he looked at me and slightly sighed. "Since you are new, I know nothing about you."

I took the papers and glance at the questions, which were about as cliché as they got. "Are you sure you just didn't want to get to know me better?" I grinned.

He frowned. "I'm sure if that were the case, which it is not, there would be a much better way to do that. Unless that is what you people do these days, irrelevant questioning…" He let that trail off, making me feel awkward for the slight teasing.

"So, bring these to you when I'm done with it, yes?" He nodded. "Good, I doubt it will take very long. I love talking about myself," I laughed. No response. I pursed my lips, trying to contain the absolute awkwardness. I waved to him and started to go inside. As I thought about all that awkwardness, I pondered whether it was just me, or if he contributed to it as well. Maybe I had been a little forward (as I had small people skills), but it was partly him too. Maybe he just didn't know how to talk to people… I had to add that to list of things to accomplish with this guy.

And I _still _didn't know his name!

I continued walking, trying once again to navigate the hallways to get to English. I had specifically left my house early enough for some time to look for my class, but alas talk with Mystery Boy left me a little timeless. With the turn of a corner, though, I was luckily able to spot the looming numbers on the door, which I was very grateful for because I really could not afford to be late for another class. I walked in the door and took a seat in the middle-back area to the side, as the middle of classrooms whigged me out a little bit. As the bell rang and everyone else flowed in, I vainly searched for at least one familiar face. However, no one looked remotely familiar, which saddened me. I put my book on my desk and put me elbows on it to elevate my arms so my face could lay on them in slight dejection.

The teacher recognized my new student status, but luckily did not force the tortuous ordeal of having to stand in the front and talk about yourself. She handed me a reading list of the classics, which I was happy to note I had pretty much read already in one life or another. Bronte, Austen, Shakespeare, Orwell, Dante, Fitzgerald… All books were on my "50 books to read before you die" bookmark at my house, which was a relief. Thusly, I relaxed in my seat and attentively listened to the debate on the pros of female protagonists in modern books. In the middle of the debate, I took out the papers Mystery Boy had handed me and analyzed the questionnaire.

_Name._ That would be a toughie.

_Birthday._ Wow these were challenging to answer.

_Likes._ I frowned, refusing to answer the overly generic questions. These were so dull! If I was keeping a questionnaire on someone, the questions would be so much more exciting! And so, with a little chuckle, I started writing in questions and answers I thought would be much more informative.

The bell rang suddenly, taking me out of my thoughts and creative writing process. I frowned again, but finished my last answer. Satisfied, I put it in my bag and vowed to find Mystery Boy to give it to. I walked out of my class and was just about to head in the direction I was fairly sure the library was, when I was pulled back my a strong force. However, this time, I knew for sure who it was.

"Luke! You can't just go doing that to people!" I said with a laugh as I turned behind me to see him as he gave me a devilish grin.

"I just wanted to make sure you saw me before you left in a hurry again," he said innocently. "Not my fault you always walk like you're on a mission. "

"It's called the mission of life," I laughed as we walked to the group, who all somehow managed to remember my name. As we chatted for the 15 minutes of break, I slightly glanced around to try and look for Mystery Boy, but I didn't see him, no matter how much I looked. When the bell rang again, I looked at my schedule, surprised I even had my next class, but pleased I was able to reach my goal of going to the library. Luckily, it was easy to find it, so I didn't have another late to class fiasco. I walked into the door and almost gasped.

Not only was it big, but the library seemed to be well stocked, a luxury I was not expecting of Waffle Town High, shockingly enough. Complete with ornate wood tables and flower arrangements, it was very pretty and pleasing to the eye. I walked up to whom I assumed was the librarian, a young girl of what looked to be 22. She smiled sweetly when I asked if I could sit anywhere and nodded politely. Taking that positively, I put my bag down at a fancy table with an arrangement of lilies and went to the bookshelves for a book, as I didn't really have any work to do yet. I searched the shelves for a book and was just about to reach for it…-

"You know, I didn't take you as the Shelley kind of girl."

I jumped slightly and turned around, annoyed. "Do you ever like, you know, talk to people face to face without trying to scare them before?"

He looked at me confused. "What are you talking about? I am just regularly talking to you. You just are making it seem like I am some very mysterious guy who goes around stalking people."

I opened my mouth, shocked at the accuracy of his comment, and hurriedly closed it again. "Well then just…. Don't sneak up on people then. It's very, shady." I grabbed my book (which was in fact "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley), and went to go sit at my table, not very sure if he was following or not. I stopped at the desk first and checked it out, wondering if he would follow still. And true to my predictions, as I sat down, I could feel someone sit down next to me too.

"Did you really call me shady?" he asked incredulously as I started flipping to the first page. I pretended to read, part out of actually reading and part of really wishing to annoy him, which was very successful. He pushed my book on the table and repeated the question.

"Yes, yes I did. What's it to you Mystery Boy?" I asked, and froze, realizing I had accidently let my name for him slip. However, he didn't seem to notice.

"I, for one, am not shady. I am in fact the exact opposite of shady. I am quite a distinguished person, of whom the characteristic of 'shadiness' is a preposterous idea," he sniffed stiffly. I raised my eyebrows, unsure of how to continue this, and suddenly remembered the questionnaire. I hurriedly pulled it out and promptly handed it to him with a grin.

"I slightly modified it," I laughed after a couple seconds of him analyzing it with horror.

"What is this?" he asked sternly in that same horrified expression.

"Well… You said this was to get to know me. However, those questions were inadequate ways of knowing me, so I added a little bit of fa-"

"You added quite a lot of facts!" he almost shouted, earning many shushes from the surrounding crowd. He pursed his lips and continued. "I mean, I knew that you were Elizabeth Pilgrim and all, but why should I care that you like ducks over all other animals, or that you prefer Phasebook over Squeaker, or better yet that you know 43 digits of pi?"

"Hey hey hey," I started, "that is an excellent conversation starter. Do not diss the math nerdiness. Just because Sir Shady-"

"I AM NOT SHADY!" he hissed as quietly as I think he could manage. He heaved deeply and smoothed his vest. "I am not shady," he repeated.

"Yes, I believe that part was established already," I said, trying to contain my grin at how funny he was when he got angry. I noted mentally that when Mystery Boy was irritated, his hair in the front would bounce a little.

"I know my hair bounces," he said with irritation as I realized in horror that I had said that out loud. "And why do you keep calling me 'Mystery Boy?'"

"Um, well that would be because you've never actually told me your name. Not that it was a big deal or anything," I said hurriedly, "but you just never got around to it."

He cocked his head and held out his hand. "Gill Hamilton, pleased to meet you. Or, more… pleased to actually have the decency to introduce myself." He half smiled and continued. "You must forgive me. I am not usually so informal. I suppose our meetings have been a little unorthodox though."

I laughed delicately and shook the held out hand. "And I apologize for the paper fiasco. I was trying to be funny but," I paused, "I suppose our humors are just a little bit different, that's all!"

He nodded as we sat there awkwardly. Luckily we were literally saved the bell, for who knows all the crazy shenanigans that could have happened in all that awkwardness. He got up and grabbed my bag for me before I could pick it up, causing me to slightly blush. We got to the door and looked at each other.

"Until another time," he stated as stiffly as he walked away. I stood there for a couple seconds as he got farther and farther away from me, transfixed by some means I myself could not comprehend. He, Gill, was very different from the boys I was used to in the city, and that made these meetings, as well as him, all that more interesting.


	4. Chapter 4: The View from Gill

**As the title suggests, this chapter is all goint to be a Gill point of view, to add some laughs and variety from the view of our favorite pompous 'Mystery Boy" :)**

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I hurried away from the library, knowing that _**she **_was still watching. Some may have called it pride that I knew this; others, seen it as typical Gill behavior. However, somehow I just knew that she was watching me walk away. I didn't see it as vanity, just more a fact of life of constants, along the lines of taxes, my peer's stupidity, and the inevitable flow of lame jokes that my father provided at dinner parties.

As I walked, I took in the glances and stares of everyone around me. They looked at me with slight condescension which I knew was not justified in any sense whatsoever. If anything, I should be the one to judge them all, but I didn't want to seem prideful to everyone else. Or, at least, more prideful than usually, as most people thought I was very full of myself anyways. I was used to these rumors and thoughts of everyone, but now I started to sense a more animistic attitude to me wherever I went. Quite frankly, I found it all complete childish and irritating more than anything. I could hardly go anywhere in town without some little cretin staring at me strangely or whispering when I happened to walk by. I had grown accustomed to not paying attention though, and strictly focused on politics and of course getting out of this low-life high school.

I eventually made it to my usual table where Candace and Luna happened to be sitting. As usual, my heart skipped a little bit when I realized Luna would be eating with me today, but I chose to ignore that little feeling and instead got out my classic "Back to the Future" lunch box, and removed my un-crusted peanut butter and boysenberry sandwich. Both girls had already been in a seemingly intense conversation that I personally chose not to get into, until the question "Don't you agree Gilly?" was asked of me. I frowned a little, knowing fully how much Luna knew I hated being called Gilly, but chose to ignore that. Again.

"Ah, yes. Of course I do," I nodded as convincingly, taking another bite of my sandwich.

Candace gave a small laugh, which was really all that you could expect from someone so frail looking. "You are a very bad listener Gill," she accused.

Luna rolled her eyes and flipped her hair, almost driving me crazy, though I managed to contain it. "Couldn't you pay attention to me just once Gill?" She sighed dramatically and continued in her rant. "We were talking about that new girl, what's-her-face, the new Miss Popular," and thus proceeded to twist her mouth in a somewhat unattractive pout.

I patted my vest down, casually wiping off some random crumbs. "What about Lizzy?"

Luna turned to me with a glare. "You _**know **_her and everything?" She threw up her hands in the air and so much attitude you would have thought she was one of those girls with the pom-poms who tried to convince the school to be all… offensive (aggressive maybe?), or whatever they tried to say these days.

"Luna, I know everybody," I stated simply.

"Oh don't try to make yourself seem all high and mighty Gill Hamilton! This is very serious!"

I sighed, not caring very much where this conversation was going. My initial reaction and feeling of seeing Luna was still there, but was marred by annoyance at her major amount childish behavior she exhibited sometimes. It just happened to be one of those lucky days. "I don't understand the severity or relevance of this."

Candace sighed. "Someone is just jealous that another person is getting more attention from the boys than she is," she tried explaining to me.

"Am not," Luna sniffed. Right, that was something we all believed. "I just don't see the big deal about her. Last period Luke could not stop talking about how 'cool' and 'awesome' she was. Can you imagine having to hear about another girl being awesome from some other guy? That does not boost my self esteem, plus, it got really old after the first minute of it. Not to mention the fact the most popular guy at this school is head over heels for a complete stranger! It's…."

"Unfathomable?" I suggested with boredom, thinking about this rant. I mean, Lizzy didn't seem that bad. Obviously not of very high exciting caliber or anything like that, but not as bad as Luna said that she was. Of course she was jealous, but sometimes it wasn't very hard to remember how selfish and juvenile Luna could be at times. The news about Luke had sparked interest in me though; I would have to warn her somehow to stay away from him and all the problems he caused. She could do better than that by a very good margin, much better.

The rest of lunch continued in Luna ranting, which I chose to block out easily. I looked around the patio lunch area to see if I could spot this new male fascination, but I was disappointed in not finding her, which was odd. The bell ringing of the start of last period was thus a blessing instead of the usual curse it was. I picked up my things and left the table before I had to hear anymore of Luna's annoying rant.

I walked into chemistry and took my seat at the lone table, grateful I was alone in this class. I honestly did not know if I could deal with another person requiring my full attention. And then, it happened.

When I sat in the chair, I looked down at the drawings left on the desk, surprised some of the lower school vandals had some decent talent. I really wished the school had more art programs, as I felt it would utilize the town's talents more, and vowed that when I was mayor, I would provide just that. And then it was with these thoughts that she walked in.

She was short, something I had gathered from the few times we had conversed. Her hair was also messy and looked to have a fruit snack in it, which was not very appealing and in fact was a sign of how much effort she must spend on _not _looking her best. However, I had to give her that the green outfit she wore complimented her skin nicely, and I could see the appeal that someone so simply minded as Luke would fall for her. Probably if I grew to talk to her more even_** I**_ might fall down that path, but that would obviously never happen. Besides the Luna situation (whatever was happening or not happening there), the Luke situation (or apparently every other able bodied male in the school), and of course her obvious lower class upbringing, she was just too much for me.

It was these precise thoughts, as well as my complete lack of attention in this class, that I didn't notice her sit next to me until she uttered a very chipper "Hello!"

I turned to her as she gave a little grin and wave. I half waved back with a frown and gave an expected "Hello," back, as that was the nice proper thing to do. Not that she deserved my manners and upbringing necessarily, but it was nice practice of being nice to the little people that would help me in the mayor field of my very promising future.

However, my simple "Hello" seemed enough to get her going. "I'm just so glad you're here Gill! Because, well, let's just say chemistry is not my 'hottest' subject, no pun intended," she grinned to me, which I returned with an eyebrow raise she seemed to easily shake off. "I'm just not a science person though; English and History are my expertise subjects. But, it's nice to see at least one familiar face in here, plus we're even sitting together. This will make it the best ever, I just know it!" Another grin that I had absolutely no response to, which totaled to a score 1 to Lizzy for making me completely render less of replying.

Luckily for me it was at that time we started our lesson. She turned back promptly and then took out her notebook with an equal amount of speed. Throughout the lesson, I would glance her way, but she continued being straight faced and studiously copied the notes down as if they were precious, life saving words and equations. She had slightly messy handwriting for a girl (something I had noticed when she handed me the questionnaire back), but it seemed that she tried her best to take good notes and be alert, and all other positive qualities we as students were supposed to exhibit. For me, I knew I was good at chemistry, which wasn't narcissistic, just a mere statement, such as the sky is blue, or even that an object in motion will remain in motion unless further acted upon by another object or force. It was just a fact that I was good at this. Yet, she said she was not very good at this, and tried so much harder than I did to succeed. It was a sign of motivation and hope, which left me feeling guilty I got this all so much easier than she did. I glanced over again at the strange girl in green next to me, not sure what to make of all this.

After our lecture of ionic classification and element balancing, we were given a little bit of time to work on the given homework. I pulled the worksheet out lazily, and then turned to see Lizzy already working on it, her hair drawn back into a messy bun.

"Does that help at all?" I asked, motioning to the thing alive on her head.

She turned to me and sighed. "I wish. It's mainly to get it all out of my face to focus. However, I'm just still not really getting this." She frowned and bit on her pencil as she glanced at the paper.

I scooted closer to her to look at her equation to not only help her, but somewhat impress her with my brains. "You need to add a 3 subscript to the sodium right there," I pointed to one equation, "and a 2 to the nitric acid right there," I pointed to another one of the equations.

She complied too what I said, and lit up and looked up to me. "Oh thanks so much Gill! I'm sure it'll make more sense as I do these more, just I don't know. The way that Mr. Anderson explained it back at-." She stopped herself talking, a feat I didn't even know was possible from the ever talkative Lizzy and I looked up bashfully and I could immediately tell her past was a touchy subject. And because of this, it only made me want to know all about it even more.

"Pardon?" I prompted her to speak again after a couple of seconds of silence.

She looked at me and snapped out of whatever thought train she had been in, and giggled the kind of laugh one would expect of a ten and not sixteen or seventeen year old. "Who says pardon anymore? It sounds so... sophisticated," she laughed.

I pursed my lips at her. "I was taught at a young age that pardon was the way to answer back to questions as it is the most proper way of clarifying what one said." This person got more confusing by the minute. One minute, she was acting very superior and mysterious, the next she was her seemingly normal self of laughing and joking around and such. It was very muddling from my standpoint. Not to mention whatever that had happened with that whole 'Mystery Boy' name she had apparently dubbed me. I did not really know who the real Lizzy was, and once again I was meant with a curious sense of wanting to know everything and anything about her.

"When I was young, I learned to look both ways before crossing the street, and not to touch the stove or any other such breakable items. I'm very clumsy," she laughed again_. __**Mental note to Gill, Lizzy was gravitationally challenged and had a very strange sense of humor**__. _Check.

_**Here goes nothing**__,_ I thought. "Where are you from Lizzy?" I asked, trying to maintain a friendly disposition with her, hoping it would make her more willing to talk.

She shrugged nonchalantly as she started to doodle on her paper absentmindedly. "Just, you know, from the States, in a very big city. It was crowded and dirty and very different from here," she slightly laughed, amused, no doubt, by this pathetic place she now called home. I would too.

"This is a nice change though," she said, surprising me greatly. "I like the small town feel, where everyone knows everyone. You all are so much nicer. I know this is probably strange to hear, heck you probably can't even wait until you leave I bet," -very dead on surprisingly-"but you won't appreciate a place like this until you leave it. I can guarantee that." I was once again surprised with this sudden sense of wisdom she had, that I could just stare at her dumbfounded for a couple of seconds until the bell rang.

"Is school really out?" I asked as I hurriedly got my things together. _**Great Scotts where had the time gone… **_I wanted to talk more to Lizzy, to hear more about her interesting life, and I still didn't know why Luna did not like her. I just, I just had to find out more about her.

We walked to the school entrance together in silence and just as she was starting to walk away, I grabbed her arm. She turned, and with a smirk asked "Pardon?"

I chose to ignore that and continued. "I liked this chat we had. It was, enlightening. Would you maybe want to continue it tomorrow night, for dinner at the Sundae Inn? It's not a date," I assured her, as her eyes got slightly wider than normal, "we're just two acquaintances getting to know each other better. At maybe around… Five O'clock, ish?"

She had a strange look on her face I couldn't describe for the life of me, but smiled sweetly, and with a little delicate bow, said "I'd love to Gill," and blushed. She looked as if she wanted to say something else, but it was then the lethargic one with blue hair tramped on over, which seemed to take precedent over me. So instead of a proper goodbye, she turned back, waved, and pranced over to him and they set off together laughing. I started off in the direction of Town Hall, and it wasn't until I got there and reached for the door handle that I realized my fist had been clenched the whole time.


	5. Chapter 5: Dinner for Two

"…_Dinner at the Sundae Inn?" _The words played over and over in my head all night and as I fell asleep that night. Luke had walked me home after school and tried to talk to me, but I was obviously distracted by other things, so we did not spend the rest of the day, as he had basically hinted at. I felt somewhat bad, but then I was distracted by my thoughts of Gill, which was a very new experience. It wasn't as if I liked him or anything, I just, happened to enjoy his company. And talking to him. And our witty banters. And the fact that he just seemed to do his own thing by being himself. He didn't care about popularity or social status, or any of things which always made guys seem overly pretentious in the first place. And it was because of this that he was all the more interesting to talk to.

Okay, maybe I did like him a little, but it was no big deal at all. If anything, it was an interest from my part, due to the fact I didn't know him all that well. Thus, the dinner at five was going to be crucial in not only getting to know him better, but to establish the friendship that needed to just happen between us. Everything would have to go perfect; meaning I probably should actually put some effort into how I looked and everything. As the last thoughts of mine finally shut off allowing me to sleep, I imagined some possible conversation scenarios, always making me sound witty and funny and charming, which were all three classic elements a guy was sure to fall for. If I was able to manage to have some grace and charm, and most importantly not scare him off forever, then maybe something could happen, which was a very invigorating thought to fall asleep to.

The I awoke the next day a little later than I liked, due no doubt to my lack of ability to fall asleep last night. I rushed outside and hurriedly watered my blooming plants and then rushed back inside, horrified to learn I only had twenty minutes to get ready and get to the school on the other side of town (whoever had built Waffle Town High on the west side of the Ganache mine district was an idiot to me). I quickly grabbed some shorts and a t-shirt and threw on my glasses, too annoyed to put my contacts in. My hair was thrown up into a ponytail as I grabbed my bag and ran to school. Somehow I was able to make it into history in time and got a very questioning look from Luke, but he didn't say anything. The bell rang as he turned to me, anxious no doubt to talk to me, and with a sigh he turned forward again.

The lesson was once again very uneventful, and I began to wonder if it was maybe the teacher's teaching techniques that were lacking and not the concepts themselves. We were taking notes on the Civil War, as Waffle Island was still technically a US province. I started doodling on the side of my notes, and merely bided time not thinking about my dinner instead of actually paying attention. As we finished notes and started working on the "homework," I instead continued my doodling. If Luke noticed, he had enough good sense in him not to say anything, which I was very grateful for, as I wasn't sure how talkative I would be with anyone. Or, at least, how talkative I would be with poor Luke.

The rest of the day continued to be a blur. Waffle Town High was not a very high maintenance school, so I was allowed moments to zone out in class and at break and lunch. Sure I laughed along with everyone else, or answered when I was called upon (as had happened in third period, since the high school dealt with block periods), but realistically my mind and heart were not very much into it. And it didn't take much guessing for one to figure out just where exactly my thoughts were at.

I tried not thinking about tonight, I really did. But to be honest, I was experiencing mixtures of nervousness, excitement, and a lot of dread that whatever happened tonight would not live up to my expectations. _At least we are just friends_ I thought to myself during lunch as my group (or at least the mix of people I currently was hanging out with, as whether they could be deemed my "group" was still kind of in the air) of friends talked about the upcoming dance. From what I gathered, Owen and Kathy were going together as "friends," even thought we all knew something was going on between them. I was new, and I knew there was something going on, showcasing just how obvious the chemistry was between them was. Kathy and Phoebe were discussing dresses while the guys discussed… something. I actually was kind of confused about everything the guys were describing, so I turned to my fellow girls.

"… Yeah, my dress is green and has some flowery thing at the bottom," Phoebe was describing to Kathy, who seemed to be listening very intently. Apparently that was the thing girls talked about were dresses. I had never been a 'girly-girl,' so dresses were not my area of expertise.

"Is this dance formal?" I asked them both, trying to get the gist of how things worked in this town. Back in the city, Winter Formal and Prom were the only dances that were formal, but it could be very different here. I wasn't even sure what this dance was for.

"No, it's not. It's just like a… back to school/flower festival dance. It's really nothing big, it's just another town tradition," Kathy explained with a laugh. I nodded in understanding.

"Lizzy, has Luke asked you yet?" Phoebe said with a smile. My eyes widened in confusement and she looked at Kathy. "Did he not? I thought he said he was going to?"

"You probably just misheard," I tried laughing it off. "Luke doesn't know me that well, so he probably wouldn't ask me in the first place." I glanced at Luke who caught my eye with a small smile as he continued talking to Owen and Chase. Could it really be that he..? No, impossible. I turned back to Phoebe with a smile, eager to change the topic. "Enough about me though, who are you going with?"

She blushed and instinctively turned to a table of older guys who looked like they could easily be athletic and student council members. There was one you could tell she was looking at though, who was sitting on the patio table and was writing in a notebook. He had flowing blonde hair and a very nice leather jacket. From afar, he looked like a very serious and nice guy, the seemingly perfect guy for someone as shy as Phoebe.

"That's Chase," Kathy explained, "but little-Miss-Scaredy-cat won't ask him because he's a senior."

I smiled at Phoebe. "Plenty of juniors have gone to things with juniors. Besides, if he didn't want to go with you, then he is obviously too stupid for you in the first place. I'm sure if you asked him he'd say yes though."

We continued our talk until the end of lunch, and I hurried to my class, afraid to be late for journalism again. I gave my teacher the idea for my story and she approved, so I spent the rest of my class doing that. When class ended, I hurried out of there once again, trying my best to avoid Luke. If he planned to ask me to whatever dance this was, I didn't want to answer him, as currently I wasn't even sure what my answer would be to him. Everything solely relied on how my dinner tonight went.

Once I reached my house I backed into the door to close it and sighed against it. I couldn't believe that Luke wanted to ask me to this dance! He didn't even know me at all and just, ugh! I didn't know why he wanted to ask me, but I think it'd be weird to go with him. But... I guess it would be interesting, and it was very flattering that he wanted to ask me. I mean, from what everyone said he was the most popular guy at school. But popularity was not a valid reason to go out with someone, and I didn't want to lead him on in any way shape or form.

I sighed and started putting away my things from school. I slid off my shoes and put my bag on my bed, thinking to get some homework done so I wouldn't have to worry about it when I got home tonight. I grabbed my chemistry problems that I had definitely not finished yesterday, once again Gill's entire fault. I sat down on my couch and starting working them out, vowing I would make fun of him about it at dinner and then I….

… Woke up. I yawned and picked up my homework that had fallen down to the ground. I fixed my askew glasses, wondering when I had passed out as I got up and tried to wake up a little more before my dinner. As I set my homework down I looked to the clock that flashed **5:08**.

I dropped my homework to the ground and slightly screamed, not believing I had overslept. Time was obviously not with me, and I was going in my baggy shirt, shorts, and glasses. Plus, Gill would probably not like my lateness. I threw on sandals and ran to the Sundae Inn, hoping he wouldn't be mad with me. Once I got there I slightly barged in, spotted Gill, and collapsed unto the chair facing him.

He raised an eyebrow at me as I breathed deeply, trying to regain my breath, expecting him to talk about my tardiness. Instead he said: "Since when do you wear glasses?"

I looked at him and reached for the glass of water in front of me, took a drink, and set it down. "I wear glasses," I shrugged as nonchalantly as possible. He pursed his lips and looked back at me.

"I didn't know what you like, so I didn't order for you, sorry."

"That's fine," I said as I glanced at the menu in front of me full of normal restaurant-y things. There appeared to be a delicious combination I ordered right away. Chase apparently worked here and assured Gill and I our food would arrive at the same time in about five minutes or so. Which left us time to talk. Or awkwardly stare at each other, which seemed to be the path Gill wanted to take more. However, I knew I just had to get him out of his comfort zone.

"So, what did you order?" I asked him as he started tapping on his silverware. He looked up at me, seemingly irritated with my question and no doubt wishing he had never asked me to this in the first place.

"Stuffed tomato tortellini and bruschetta." My heart sank and his aloofness, but I smiled anyways.

"That sounds really good. I love pasta too."

"Well, everything here is good. Chase is a very talented chef. We're lucky to have him in such a small town. In fact, most of the skilled people we have don't deserve to be here."

"Why don't you like it here?" I asked, frowning.

He looked at me curiously, as if he suddenly realized we'd been talking this whole time. "What did you ask?"

"Pardon?" I chuckled a little as he glared, obviously not as amused by my dazzling wit as I had hoped. I cleared my throat and said, "I mean you seem to just not like it here. You always talk about the town condescendingly and with disdain and disregard. Just," I took a sip of water, holding him in impatience. "It just seems you'd rather be anywhere else except for here."

Gill continued staring at me, making me wonder if I had said the wrong thing or something. "No one has ever asked me like that so forcibly and… straightforward."

I shrugged. "I'm very straightforward. No tact," I laughed as he continued being himself, of just sitting there and not responding at all to me, minus the staring of course.

"I suppose I don't like how the town is currently run," he said suddenly. I opened my mouth to answer, but it was then when Chase brought us our food. I thanked him as he eyed us curiously, but left to the back anyways. I bit into my tortellini (which yes, Gill and I had ordered the same thing curiously enough, minus him getting bruschetta and me getting sweet potatoes instead).

"Well, if you don't like the management style, why don't you argue it up with the mayor or something? I mean, I know I haven't lived here as long as you have, so I don't _fully_ know town protocol, but that seems the logical thing to do. He seemed nice enough," I suggested as I put more food into my mouth.

Gill seemed to almost choke into his food with my suggestion, which was a very strange reaction, but I chose to ignore it. After all, he had already done some random weird things, so anything after that was not a real eye brow raiser. "The mayor doesn't seem to listen to me," he said quietly after a swallow of bruschetta.

"Oh that's right!" I exclaimed, almost knocking over my water glass, which earned a strange look from Gill I laughed a little nervously at. "I mean, when Luke showed me around a couple of days, he said something about the mayor. Or was it the mayor's son…" I bit my lip as I thought, but turned back to Gill brightly. "Anywho, he mentioned they were a little standoffish. But, I'm sure if you had some town support of good fixer-upper ideas, the mayor would definitely listen to you!" I smiled at him, expecting some snide remark, but instead I noticed a clenched fist.

"Did Luke have any other useful tidbits of information?" he asked through clenched teeth.

I closed my mouth, a little shocked at his reaction. "No. Do you… not like him very much?"

He half laughed with a scoff. "Let's just say, we are not 'BFFs' or whatever you girls call it these days." He looked to the bar where a girl with pink pigtails was at as well as a few other islanders and sighed back to me. "When you grow up with someone, grudges just happen."

_Grudges?_ I thought to myself with a little glee. I just HAD to find out what happened between them, but I could sense today was not the day to so. We chatted idly as we finished our dinner, but nothing as serious as before. He had semi-warmed up, but I was still curious about the history between him and Luke, as both were parts of my life. I protested when he insisted on paying for my dinner, but eventually gave in, as a guy caring about you, even just paying for your dinner, was enough to make any girl feel special. We walked outside to darkness as he properly held the door for both of us like a true gentleman.

"So, what's the deal with this dance thingie coming up?" I asked as we walked to my house after his insistence he walked me home as I tried to wonder about his feelings he had about it to try and satiate the curiosity I had about his thoughts on things.

He shrugged. "Just the normal mating ritual the school seems fit to host every year. It's just another way to embarrass us all and fund the school." He paused and picked up a dandelion growing along the road. "The girls wear dresses that are flower themed, as it is a dance preceding the town flower festival. The guys wear that flower in the lapel of a casual button down and nice pants. Spring fling is not formal, just people usually go overboard with it all."

He handed the dandelion to me suddenly as we rounded the corner. "Do you go to these things?" I asked a little breathlessly, surprising myself with the forward nature of my question.

"Usually," he nodded. "After all, it is tradition." He shrugged and gave a mouth twitch, which I knew was his attempt at a smile. I smiled back happily that he had finally seemed to be comfortable enough with me to let his cool, proud demeanor melt away.

"Mustn't break tradition now, would we?" I laughed a little, thinking how stupid I must sound. "Who's your date?" I asked, once again more forward then necessary.

That seemed to anger him. I realized we had gotten to my house, which was good since the next words from his mouth was: "Not you, so don't you even think of asking me Elizabeth." And with that he was off in a huff, leaving me to stand outside by myself, holding the dandelion he had so seamlessly and almost romantically given me not even five minutes ago.


	6. Chapter 6: A Change in the Wind

So, I think I'm getting the hang of this and being able to see if people go to look at this story, and I _think _it's been getting a good amount of publicity and reading and such things. However, not many reviews! I would appreciate any and all reviews I would get, it makes me feel special and would help in making the story better in maybe some areas that aren't my strongest in writing about. So please, read, review, go eat some hummus, all that jazz!

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The next day I awoke, my pillow a little wet from a slight cry I had as I went to bed. Even thinking about it now was sad and painful from my point of view. However, I vowed today I would not show it. Gill would not get the best of me, no matter how hurt I was and all. He, he was just a heartless jerk, and would rue the day he rejected the only decent friend he had.

So it was on that Thursday I put on make-up, contacts, a cute paisley skirt, and slimming black shirt. Since I was still so new, my 'style' had not been established yet, and in layman's terms, I could wear whatever I wanted and not be defined by it. At my old school I had gone into my comfy t-shirts phase, that although were much more comfy than outfits I wore such as today, they were nonetheless not as exciting to the male population. For some strange reason, guys just reacted to an over-exposed flash of leg instead of frumpy shirts that hid a girl's frame. Who would have guessed?

Luke did not seem to mind my outfit that day, as he chatted idly with me, taking me to each class and lingering until the last minute he had to go. I didn't mind though; I honestly truly did enjoy talking to Luke very much since he was such a funny guy. However, the fact that he made a certain platinum blonde guy completely infuriated was also not a bad thing. And boy, when Gill spotted me talking to Luke outside our chemistry class later that day, man was he livid.

All during chemistry, Gill would look at me as if to maybe apologize for last night, but would stop and not say anything. No doubt his ego got the better of him or some other excuse he'd use to cover up the fact that he was very rude to me. Not that it mattered to me at all as I turned to point blank ignoring him in class, foreshadowing a very long and quiet year.

After that class, I was able to escape to my house, away from all the drama high school brought. Who knew such a town could be so stressful! I knew, though, if I tried to ignore pettiness I could accept it all better, which I knew was true. Even me, who was mad at Gill, would forget about it the next day. I just wasn't a very good grudge holder at all.

Friday was equally uneventful, minus the obvious hinting Luke gave about the flower festival dance. Whenever he brought it up all I could do was smile though, not really giving any definite answer. However, I decided as I headed home that Friday afternoon, that if he asked me, I would say yes to him. After all, he was one of the few people who actually made me happy and could make me laugh. And in my book, that was all that counted. These thoughts made me smile in my mind as I rounded a corner and froze.

Gill was walking next to and _very close_ to the same girl from the bar the other night, the one with pink pigtails. She was laughing, but strangely enough was the fact that he was laughing too. He was using his hands to expressively say something I caught as mockery of someone. Quietly, I started walking to be close enough behind them to hear, but not close enough to be noticed.

"I can't believe she's such a ditz! I mean, anyone can balance a chemistry equation. Why, even _Luke _could do it, it's so easy," the girl sneered rather unattractively. I frowned as I kept their pace, but continued listening, eager to hear who this 'ditz' was.

"No, she definitely possesses more intelligence than that imbecile could muster in a lifetime. She does seem to be fairly intelligent, minus the chemistry part," Gill continued.

"Even so, I do think that Lizzy Pilgrim and Luke Dolt are just made for each other!" she laughed, throwing a seductive and flirty expression to Gill. I thought I would be sick right then and there.

"Well, I do think that he was going with her to spring fling…." Gill trailed off, obviously leaving room to start a conversation with the other girl. His results didn't take long to happen.

"Now about that," she turned to him as I scurried behind a nearby tree to not be seen. I started tearing up about their mockery of me, and hoped my sniffles wouldn't be too loud so that they heard me.

"Gilly," she continued, "when are you asking me to this thing? I didn't make a dress for nothing!"

He blushed adorably at her, making my heart and stomach slightly contract, but I ignored it. "Well, Luna, if you want to go together…."

She squealed with girly charm and flung into his arms. "Obvi!" she squealed, giving him a peck on the cheek. She released him and ran down the road, giving the excuse of helping her grandma at the shop.

I was shocked and couldn't move, ready to leave to go home and cry for the next hour as soon as Gill moved. However, like the annoying teenage boy he was growing to be, he just stood there, holding his cheek. After a couple of minutes (or hours at this point, I really could not tell), he sighed a "Wow," and started humming to himself as he walked down the road, grinning from ear to ear like a lovestruck teenager.

As soon as he rounded the corner into town though, I could not move as I had wanted to do. I clutched the tree for support as the tears came steadily out. I couldn't believe the very mean things that both had said about me, particularly the girl who I had never met before. And Gill… he didn't even stick up for me, defend my honor like any reasonable guy would, but instead contributed to my open mockery, which just made it worse. My feelings for him, whatever they had been, were so confused and mainly hurt. I had thought we were friends, but obviously, we weren't even that…

I eventually began my trek to my house, but I walked right past it to sit on the bridge near it. I sat down, letting my feet dangle and my tears wash into the rushing river. This would all pass eventually, but right now it sucked. Numerous ways were thought of in order to make Gill pay for his horrible actions, but each seemed as unreasonable as the one before. One thing was for sure though. I just had to go to this dance. Maybe with Luke or someone else, I didn't care. I just needed to be with someone who not only made the pompous one green with envy, but who would also mend the whole in my heart. I sighed, dipping my toes into the stream as I leaned against the posts of the bridge. However my very necessary angsty moment was cut short by the interruption of someone's foot kicking my back. I looked up and for one of the first times in my life, I was speechless.

He was tall and had dark curly hair that made me want to run my fingers throughout it. Thin wire glasses were at the tip of a perfectly straight nose, and they hid a set of stunning green eyes. Cute little freckles danced along his face that was scrunched up reading what appeared to be a map. However, I could not I could not stop staring because that hands down he was the most attractive looking guy I had ever seen. I admired from my seat, open mouthed and speechless.

He mumbled a quick "sorry" down to me as he continued walking a reading his paper thing, but I was of course rendered unable to respond. He turned then and looked down at me with a curious look. "Well what are you doing down there?"

I gulped and stood immediately, my foot a little wet from the stream. I tried air drying them, making myself no doubt look stupid, but he didn't seem to mind or pay attention to. Instead, he had pulled out a camera and had begun taking pictures of the scenery.

"Sitting on a bridge is a perfect normal way to spend a Friday afternoon," I said with a small polite smile, as I was still unable to do much else in my current state. Once again I noticed I was the farthest thing from his mind as he avidly took some shots of blue bird with long feathers that had flown by. As soon as the bird had flown by, the guy turned back to me.

"Hello, you were saying?" he asked politely with a hint of a foreign accent. I blinked a couple times at his sudden change in focus subject, and shook my head.

"Nothing, it's, well it is irrelevant now," I said simply, using a more dignified tone than normal. I don't know what it is, but talking to someone with an accent automatically made me want to talk fancier than my normal day to day verbatim.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, "it was… I have a bird fascination. But not paying attention to a lady is not how I was brought up, so I apologize." He smiled at me with boyish charm making me laugh a little in spite of myself.

"It really is fine. I'd pay more attention to a bird then me too. I'm not all as exciting as you may think," I slightly chuckled as I pushed my hair back. "But, really it's no big deal. I actually kind of thank you; you've made me feel a lot better and got me out of my pity-party rut."

He smiled. "Well anytime for you." He offered me his hand which I shook as his face turned an interesting expression. "This may be random, but, you do live here, yes?"

"Well, I do. I haven't lived here very long, but I know the location of most things. Why?"

"As payback for almost kicking you into the river, I would like to take you somewhere to eat, or something. I actually don't know where places are, which is why I would need your help," he smiled hesitantly and a little bashfully even.

I looked to him with a little shock and bit my lip. On one hand, I had been majorly depressed about five minutes ago from a very disturbing scene I had just witnessed. On the other hand, what did I really have to lose? Plus, whoever this was made me laugh, so that was always a plus. "Sure, I'd love to," I smiled as we started walking.

He started the conversation going by pointing to all the different plants everywhere and some of the birds we saw. With most guys, it would have been a sign of conceitedness, but with him, it wasn't like that at all. It was as if he wanted to show off his knowledge about nature just because he really enjoyed nature, which was a nice change. I smiled whenever he talked and listened, not really contributing to the conversation much until I led him to the Sundae Inn. He held the door open for me like a true gentleman and when we got to the table held out my chair for me too.

We both ordered just some non-alcoholic drinks and as we waited, I looked over to him and smiled. "So you enjoy dendrology?"

He looked a little in awe. "I'm surprised you know what the study of trees is called! Not undermining your intelligence of course, you seem like a very educated woman," he smiled at me as I gave a slight blush, "but, most people don't know what it is called."

I kind of laughed. "I went through a time period of just learning different studies of things, such as dendrology, or entomology. I also know a lot of fears, such as lutraphobia."

"What is that?" he enquired."

"The fear of otters," I smiled as he laughed a good hearty laugh, as if I truly was witty. "I personally don't know why one would have a fear of otters, but I don't see fit to judge others of their fears."

He laughed again and we continued talking until our drinks got there. I mentally made note to ask his name soon, as the whole name thing had never come up. But, it was nice to know that we could talk about other things and names weren't very necessary. We had a lot of similar interests and ideas about life, and he played piano like me, so we could discuss music, which I wasn't going to lie was nice after such a stressful past couple of days. Music had always had the ability the make me feel at peace, and just talking about it really did de-stress me from the pettiness of Gill and that super mean pink-haired girl. Luna was it? _What kind of name was that anyways_ I thought as the other guy, the nice guy, was explaining some scientific concept. I hadn't followed any of it and didn't have the heart to tell him science wasn't my thing, but I listened anyways. That was what I was good at and I could tell another friendship in the making.

When we finished, we insisted on paying for my drink, despite my slight protest. This all had the feel of a couple of days before with a certain unmentionable Gill, but I shook the feeling and continued smiling at him and pretending everything was A-okay. We made our way outside and continued with my portion of our outing as I showed him a couple of the building I knew, but mostly I apologized about my lack of knowledge of the town, but he didn't mind and as we rounded the corner with the hospital on it, we were laughing as we walked right in front of the tailor shop where _**she**_ was standing. The girl and I locked eyes and I smiled politely.

"Hello," I waved to her as we made our way closer to talk to her.

"Elizabeth, such a pleasant surprise," she said with a totally faked smile. I smiled bigger back to her, wondering why she knew my name as she continued, "And who is this, a new _male_ addition to the island?"

"Of course!" I laughed as I motioned to the guy. "This is… This is…" I looked to him pleadingly.

"James Dion," he laughed at me as he shook her hand. "Like the singer, but last name instead."

"Celine Dion?" Luna asked with confusion.

"I think he means Dion, like Dion and the Belmonts," I said to him as he nodded. I smiled, proud of my knowledge as Luna glared at me.

"Well, don't mind little ole me keeping you two apart!" she laughed a little as she stomped off back into the shop. We left her and made our way back to my house.

"Thanks, James Dion, for the good time," I smiled to him at the entrance of my door.

"The pleasure was all mine, Elizabeth," he grinned back.

"Lizzy," I insisted, still smiling.

"Well, Miss Lizzy, thank you for showing me around. I could tell you didn't like that one girl very much, but thank you for showing me around all the same."

"She's not my favorite, but I will live. I really didn't mind doing it. It was fun and, you're a very nice guy and, yeah…" I blushed and shook his hand. "Until some other time."

He shook my head and nodded with a strange expression. "Yes, until some other time. " He waved as I went inside my house and breathed a sigh of relief. Today was over, Gill was now at the top of my 'I ReallyDon't like You' list (which may have only included him, but that was entirely beside the point), and now James was here. He seemed very nice and amiable, but I didn't know. All that I knew right now is that there was a definitely a change in the winds for me. Maybe it was a good change, maybe it was a bad one, but it really didn't matter. Change was happening, whether I wanted it to or not.


	7. Chapter 7: Apparently Not Overrated

_Hello fellow readers! Here's another chapter from our favorite pompous Gilly (hehe) and NOT Lizzy, otherwise all this chapter would not make sense. It's a little longer than normal, so be a little prepared. Hope you enjoy, and I hope to get more comments or messages of how you think the story could improve, or what you like about it, etc._

_Also, note: James Dion is most definetly an OC character, not from Harvest Moon. Hope to not have further confusion if it did in fact confuse you. Thanks and enjoy!_

* * *

**3:35 "So what do u think about my dress?" **

**3:57 "What flwers u getting to match. Must be PERFECT"**

**4:16 "Gilly, some input puhlease!"**

**4:38 "IDK WHO U THINK U R GILBERT HAMILTON, BUT U R EXTREME LCKY TO B GOING W/ ME!"**

I sighed and looked through my messages again, rereading them all carefully, analyzing the times they were sent, and even trying to make correlations between said times. When I had asked Luna to the dance, it was of course because I had had a crush on her since 5th grade and had been caught in the first sign of a romantical moment between us in the history of our knowing each other. However this, this was annoying. I didn't want constant pestering or an over amount of texts about insignificant things. It was as if she didn't understand how stressing it was being me, honestly. I eventually replied with a little something, mostly so she would stop bugging me.

I don't know what it was about girls, but dances always made them develop this need to over control absolutely everything the one week before the dance. The hair, the dress, the date, the way said date asked her, the shoes, she even got to choose the flower, which was the important thing about this dance. Not that anyone remembered that, because the town's traditions were often pushed aside in the townspeople's minds. Who cared about important cultures when fancy festivals and dances were held, honestly.

Begrudgingly, I went down to traditional Sunday dinner with my father. The tradition had started when Mom was still alive, but he tried continuing it along, as if everything functioned smoothly still even though we both knew it did not. Father was a pretty good cook though, and had managed a red skinned potato dish with chicken that smelled pretty incredible and pilaf. We said our dinner prayers, and he started his weekly interrogation.

"Well Gilbert, the flower festival dance is coming up," he stated casually, annoying me with my full name.

"Yes Father, it is," I said stiffly. He frowned into his potatoes, hating my formality, but continued.

"Anyone strike your fancy my boy? Many of the young girls here have grown into quite attractive young ladies. Or maybe girls that haven't lived here their whole lives having just moved here two weeks ago…"

"Oh. My. Harvest Moon Goddess. Are you trying to set me up with Lizzy?" I said with a horrified expression. As if I, the future mayor and savior of the town could ever stoop so low.

"Now son, she is a very pretty young lady and has already established a good name for herself in the marketing business. In fact, you are eating her potatoes right now," he stated and gave me an exasperated look as I started glaring at the subliminal potatoes. "I'm just saying she is a very qualified young lady."

"Dad, I am already going with Luna," I sighed as I picked up said suspicious potato, knowing I would get reaction from him. 3, 2, 1….

"Oh… I didn't know you had asked her yet. Good for you Gilly," he said lackluster-ly as he stabbed a potato with more force than I knew he possessed.

I pursed my lips. "You know Dad, you could at least _pretend _to be happy for me at least. Luna is pretty successful; she does help Shelley a lot in the shop." So maybe that was a lie. I actually didn't think Luna helped ever at the shop, but I did have to try and redeem the poor girl with something.

"I thought Candace did more work than she did," he said innocently as he took a sip of water. I inwardly groaned at once having spoken to my father about all that exactly happened in the tailor shop and how skilled Candace was at everything. This was exactly the reason I never shared my personal life.

"Well, Luna does have excellent ideas about designs and such things. She's just, a very powerful asset to the store." I continued eating my potatoes, trying not to think about them coming from Lizzy. Technically, they were mine now. Or at least, my father's since he bought them. Realistically, there was no reason at all to be thinking about Lizzy or to have any thought flows relating to that exasperating farmer.

"Son, what is so wrong with Lizzy? Everyone else on the island seems to like her," my father insisted, oblivious to my thoughts and sense of mind.

I looked up and scowled. "She's just so, simple. And new. She could be an… axe murderer for all we know, and I personally do not want that for this town." I stabbed my potatoes and continued, the words flying freely out. "Plus, she's a total flirt with all the other guys. Chase, Luke, that new one what's-his-name…" I personally didn't know his name, but the new guy at school had been another topic of ranting from Luna. I paused with the thought and looked back to my father's expecting face. "Do you really wish me, your only loved son, to affiliate with that? Honestly father, it just will never happen. Lizzy and I are not meant to be together, no matter how well liked she is or how much you try and press for it to happen. "

He was silent as he finished eating. He sighed an extremely stressed sigh and took his plate to the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with a bowl of ice cream. He started eating, and then decided to look at me, wielding the spoon as a pointer. "You like her, don't you Gilly? That's why you're so adamant about her being a 'simpleton!' You are just so afraid of your feelings for someone is not up to your so called 'regular' caliber. That's what this whole issue is."

I looked at my father, speechless at the accusation. I opened my mouth a few times, but was rendered incapable of speech. Finally, I managed to choke out, "Come on Father. That is more ridiculous than the time you accused sweet Yolanda about stealing your favorite pair of pants that were hanging in the front of the house."

"How was I to know that they had flown into a tree!" he cried.

I sighed deeply. "You're didn't have to, but it just exemplifies how crazy you acted, such as right now. You jump to conclusions before knowing any facts Father. And the facts all state nothing is going on between Elizabeth Pilgrim and me."

He looked down and finished his ice cream. He stood and walked out of the room, but paused before he reached the kitchen. "I just want you to be happy Gill." And with that, he walked out, leaving me alone.

I stared after him for a couple minutes, thinking about what he had said. I mean, personally I thought I was pretty content about my life, but maybe I didn't seem like it? My father was usually not the most prophetic or observant in the world, but that truly was a deep sentiment he expressed. Happiness. Hmmmm…. I had always put happiness in a spot of my mind that was inconsequential, somewhere near the place of importance of relationships or studying for tests. It just, wasn't a big deal. But, here I was, Gilbert Bartholomew David Hamilton, apparently very unhappy in life. And personally, I wasn't very okay with that. I stood and retired to my room, thinking about my new revelation.

* * *

It was the next day after that prophetic Sunday and the week before the big dance. It had been two weeks since that new guy had shown up, the one that was always with Lizzy. As much as I hated to admit it, they truly did look nice together. We all had study group together and for the past couple of weeks I had stayed clear of her and done other important librarian tasks, such as shelving books or playing online chess. Most other days, I could ignore their laughing or looking and flirting with each other. In fact, on most days it made me a little pleased she was happy with someone else instead of that pompous Luke Dolt, who thought so highly of himself I was surprised he hadn't flown away yet with all that air in his head. However, today something changed.

Maybe it was how much they were talking. How they seemed to accidently bump into each other very sly and casually. I sat at the librarians desk, watching the whole scene unfold as I tried to check books in. Of how when she made a little face to something he said, how that face could be considered very cute by some mundane male. Obviously, not me, but someone else of lower breeding could find it cute. _Wait, did I just describe her as cute? _ I thought. Impossible. But, well…. her eyes _were _properly spaced out, and she did possess a very straight nose. In fact, most parts of her seemed very well proportioned to her very small frame. And her hair…. Some days it even could be considered presentable. Her eyes twinkled from across the room at me and I had to blink, a little dazed as I had apparently been very focused on her. It was at that moment I realized she was looking at me strangely since I had been somewhat creepily looking at her too.

That look she gave me. It wasn't a 'if looks could kill' look, but more like 'if looks could bore into your very being and soul.' I knew the proper thing would have been to not look at her, but it was as if some unspeakable force held me there in that condescending way she looked at me. The other guy looked at me as well with more force than I thought was necessary and eventually I managed to look away. I spun around in my chair and opened my mouth a couple times to try and recompose myself. I looked up to the wondering eyes of Eli, the student teacher, and shook my head casually.

This was perfectly normal to be noticing a girl in different ways. I was 17 after all. In fact, it was expected from someone like me. To notice which clothes fit better than others, or certain fashions or hairstyles that looked better on a girl. It wasn't even as if Luna and I were official, or Lizzy and the other guy for that matter. I had no reason to feel guilty like I thought I would and in fact didn't. It was some other feeling that I just couldn't put my finger on and I, Gill Hamilton, did not like that.

When the bell rang, I opted out going to my normal table, afraid Luna would go about interrogating me again. I instead walked around the hallways with my hands in my pockets whistling a quiet tune of some romantic song my dad had used to sing back in the day. As I walked past the music rooms, I paused, hearing noise from inside. I looked through the door window and was met with the back of recognizable messy brown hair. I quietly stepped into the back, wanting to listen.

_I can only give you country walks in springtime_

_And the promise to be near each time you call_

_And a love whose burning light, can warm the winter's night_

_That's all. That's all._

She sang, hitting every note perfectly and harmonizing beautifully with her piano skills. I used to have the mandatory piano lessons every mother put their child through, but the island wasn't very big with music or anything of the sorts so I hadn't continued said skills. As she crescendo into the important big parts, I could feel my chest tighten, a little happy and proud just by her singing and the fact that she could hit everything properly. There it was again, happiness. Very strange.

_There are those, I am sure who have told you_

_They would give you the world for a toy._

_All I have are these arm's to enfold you, _

_And a love even time can't destroy._

_If you're wondering what I'm asking in return dear _

_You'll be glad to know that my demands are small_

_Say it's me that you adore, for now and evermore_

I walked out, unable to contain myself if I heard more. Not only was that extremely beautiful, but it made me, dare I say it, happy. Maybe it was only Lizzy's musical ability that made me happy, but it was in fact something that I hadn't had before. In fact, nothing else seemed to have worked with making me happy in life, so I should be grateful to her. I didn't want gratitude though, and her song unlocked that mystery to me of what truly lacked in my life.

I lacked happiness, but mostly I lacked love.

Sure, whatever happened with Luna was great and all, but she didn't love me. All she cared for was popularity or achieving greatness in life. I need someone to make me happy, just like my father said. The only question was who would this girl be?

I made my way to my lunch table, my mind reeling with my new prophetic thought. If it was weird to either or Candace or Luna about my demeanor, neither of them showed it. They continued their conversation as I sat, thinking. I looked around my whole school, wondering who was truly happy in life. If any of the trivial high school relationships would last, or if people even enjoyed the relationships they were in. I looked at my peers, somewhat noticing them all for the first time.

I first saw Toby and Renee. They had been together since last year, and they happened to be one I personally thought would make it. Both their personalities were relaxed, but most off they didn't seem to fight about the petty things couples usually fought over, like cheating or indecision when it came to lunch plans. I looked around, noticing other couples and feeling very alone. I left my table (which neither Candace nor Luna noticed thank you very much), and saw Lizzy and the new guy (I really need to learn his name) walking. They looked happy and totally entranced with each other, making me stop in my tracks and let them walk by without my mood to ruin them.

Maybe this whole happiness thing was going to be a lot harder than I thought.

The bell rang, taking me out of my thoughts as I grudgingly walked to chemistry. I got there before anyone else, not of course the most boastful piece of news, but I usually did pride myself on my timely manner. I watched as everyone else walked in and finally when Lizzy walked in, looking very flustered and happy.

Between us, we hadn't talked much since that first week she was here when I slightly snapped to her about the flower festival. But, today would be different. She was a happy person; maybe she knew the secrets to her success and this whole happiness concept. Plus, that was three weeks ago. She didn't look like a grudge holder, so maybe if I slightly brought it up she could be of use.

We were talking about acids and bases in chemistry, which were of course super easy things. I pulled out another piece of paper and started writing my own personal list to how I was going to achieve exactly what I wanted.

_**Gill Hamilton's Guide to **__**Successful **__**Happiness:**_

**1. Compliment others (even if they don't deserve it).**

**2. Try to not offend more than one person in a conversation.**

**3. Go on long nature walks.**

**4. Talk and affiliate with others more. **

I continued writing, thinking about how to make me happy when a voice mentioned, "What is that?" I froze as Lizzy tried grabbing my paper and eventually succeeded. She scanned the page as I looked around, realizing I had missed the notes getting done and our time being turned to work availability. She turned to me and asked a simple question. "You can't be serious?"

I sighed. "It's not a hard thing to imagine Lizzy. I'm not happy, not everyone is blessed with such great happiness as yourself you know."

She pursed her lips in that same fashion she used with the one guy earlier, the same expression I had thought was cute in the library. I shook my head with the thought, missing what she said. I chose to say the generic "Yeah," hoping it fit in with whatever she had said. She frowned, making me guess I chose wrong.

"You know, when someone says they're not that happy, and another person responds with a 'Yeah,' that's kinda a, wrong context thing."

"Sorry, I…. Sorry."

"Its fine, I'm used to it from you." Ouch. "You know, you could always add being nicer to people for a change, that could make you happier," she said as started to work on completing her notes.

I winced, knowing I deserved her truth. I sighed. "I'm sorry I was such a jerk to you that one day. I deserve all the rude comments you can throw at me, I admit it. I'm not a nice person. I am trying to change though," I insisted as she turned to me, fighting a small smile.

"All I really did want was an apology. Plus, I kind of suck at holding grudge against people," she slightly laughed as I smiled nervously back, not sure where the conversation was going but enjoying its change in attitude. It was nice joking around with her, and almost felt very calm and peaceful.

"I'm sorry, I should have apologized sooner. I can be somewhat stupid with these things," I said, making myself seem even more of a jerk. She shrugged.

"It's fine. I'm curious though, why the sudden change?" she asked inquisitively, giving me an enquiring look I was growing to enjoy. I was about to answer when all of a sudden someone walked into our classroom.

"A Miss Lizzy! A Miss Elizabeth!" the boy shouted (probably no older than a freshman), as he walked in holding something. The class quieted down and everyone looked to Lizzy, who merely raised her hand in shock. The boy handed her a flower with a note. She took the note out as the boy walked out and the class began talking again.

"It's blank," she frowned as she turned the pretty stationary over and over. "But, I do love lilies," she smiled at me, holding the pretty white flower to show me. I had to admit, they were probably my favorite flowers too, but I would never admit that to her. As she smiled down at her gifts in blissful content, I thought again about the question again and why I had a sudden change in heart. It hit me right then and there and I almost gasped, shocked at the simplicity of it. I bit my lip, wondering if I should tell her, when another guy walked in. However, everyone knew who it was.

The one guy, whose name I still had no idea what it was, walked in and came straight to Lizzy. She blushed as he got on one knee to her.

"I know this is weird and different and unexpected, but I don't really know how people do things here," he began. I noticed his accent and frowned. Of course Lizzy would fall for a guy with an accent; every woman in the world loved a man with an accent, it was almost a scientific fact. I turned to her to gauge her reaction and saw her smiling more huge than I would have thought possible.

"I have one thing to say though," the guy continued as he opened a jewelry box with a beautiful flower necklace. "Elizabeth, will you go to the Spring Flower Dance with me?"

My eyes widened, a little shocked by this guy's romantic side, as well as somewhat forward mannerisms. I looked at Lizzy again and saw her get a little tear in her eye.

"Yes, yes of course I will!" she laughed throwing himself in his arms to hug him. The class cheered and the new partnering continued talking as I sat there.

I knew I would never tell Lizzy why I had suddenly changed. Of why I wanted to be happier, or even why I sometimes was happier than I had been in a very long time. Because the answer was simple and complex at the same time, and even I wasn't sure of what to make of it. As the bell rang and they walked out, I whispered the word I wish I could have said in time, before all of that happiness between them just happened.

"You."


	8. Chapter 8: Sea of Love

_Just so everyone knows, this is back in Lizzy's head, so as not to confuse anyone. Apparently I'm delving more into longer chapters (totally unintentional), so be prepared. I'd like to shout out to just anyone who wants to review this for any reason, shape, or form. I'd greatly appreciate it and be happy inside! Despite what happens, enjoy!_

_Also: The song somewhere in this is an actual song called "Sea of Love" by Phil Philips (get it, the title of the chapter, song in here, pretty clever right? I know dear readers, I try my best in life). It's old timey and a good love ballad. Thanks again anyone!_

* * *

I walked down the hall, met with the glances and whispers of everyone I passed by. _"Yeah, that's her." "She's so lucky!" "I wish Cody had asked me like that!" "He's so cute!" "Are they together?" "Oh my gosh, Lizzy and James are official?"_

To every comment I heard, all I could do was grin. That's right everyone, it was my guy that had asked me to the important dance in an extremely cute way. It was my guy who made every girl in school wish that they were me. It was my guy who gave me an extremely pretty necklace that bounced on my chest as I walked. I was happy, very content with life, but mostly relieved to finally be out of my Gill rut (as that wasn't a very healthy place for me to be).

My thoughts and feelings about Gill were, to say the least, complicated. Obviously, I now liked James and NOT him, but it never failed that whenever he was nice to me, even talked to me, I was happier than I had been before that. Those two weeks where we hadn't talked, this was never an issue, especially since James was always there to fill in the emptiness in my conversation quotas of the day. However, Gill had gone back to talking to me more and more, especially the following week.

The day I had been asked by James, we had walked back to my house after school where he dropped me off. I could tell he wanted to stay and chat more, but what I wanted to do was way too embarrassing for him to be around. So, I sent him off instead and watched as he left to make sure he was a good distance away. For when he was, I went in my house and immediately started screaming and jumping up and down with giggles. I, Lizzy Pilgrim, had officially been asked to one of the more important school dances by the hands down cutest guy at school. Not only was a stoked, but he had asked me in such a cute way, and I knew that every girl was just totally jealous of me. I started dancing and singing at the top of my lungs some random song my generation usually listened to in order to help them be happy about existence. Life could not have been better, which is when I heard a knock at my door. I slightly giggled as I opened the door, expecting James, but instead met with Gill.

I must have looked surprised, as he cleared his throat before talking. "Hello, Lizzy. You look very, flustered today."

I looked down at myself, realizing I was heaving a little from all the intense dancing. I laughed at him. "You know it bro!" I said, adapting vernacular slang from the normal teen verbatim.

"Bro?" he asked questiongly, apparently caught off guard.

I shrugged at him. "It's a term for friend, comrade, buddy, pal, companion, amigo, so on. What brings you to my humble abode?"

He cleared his throat. "Oh, right. Well, um, if you weren't busy I was wondering if… well… you know…" he stumbled through his thoughts and shifted his feet uncomfortably.

"Wanted to hang out?" I suggested, a little amused by his apparent and unexpected shyness. It was weird, but amusing to watch nonetheless.

"Ah, yes exactly. It's like you took the words out of my mouth," he semi laughed, again a very unexpected thing from the same Gill that had only two weeks ago made me hurt and be sad very badly. My necklace almost burned on my neck, in some prophetic way trying no doubt to remind me of James, but I smiled anyways back at him.

"Sure, I'd love to, I'll just change first. Do you wanna come in?" I asked him. He looked at me a little with shock, but composed himself quickly.

"No sure, of course. It's not a big deal. No, yeah, of course I'll come in," he said, a little more to himself than to me. I gave him a curious look, but he didn't seem to notice it as I led him into my living room. I went into my room and changed into a nicer blouse and capris instead of the somewhat uncomfortable spring dress I had worn that day (which I was very lucky too, since it had been such a pivotal day of high school for me). I pulled my hair back with a headband, making me look very 50's esque, an era of dress I had always found particularly flattering. I smiled at my reflection (a classic and very cliché girl moment I thought) and went out to the living room where I found Gill looking at some of my picture frames that were scattered around. He was holding a brown frame I could only see from the back, but I knew exactly what it was. I could see the picture from memory, the smiling faces, the clothing they wore, everything.

"Those are my parents, on their wedding day," I smiled sadly, meeting his blue eyes with my plain brown ones.

"Your mom, you look just like her," he said kindly after a moment's pause. I smiled at him.

"Yes, I know. I mean, I don't know personally, but I've been told by many people who knew them both." He looked at me curiously and I explained, "They were both killed when I was very young, about when I was 2 years old. Drunk driver, hit them square on when they were out. I had been at one of their friend's house, so I wasn't in the car."

He was silent for a minute as he set the frame down and moved closer to me as I wiped the corners of my eyes with a cloth that had been lying around. He looked as if he was going to hug me, but stopped short. I, however, wanted a hug, so I went into his slightly open embrace. "I'm sorry," he murmured as he set his head on the top of mine. I closed my eyes, a little at peace, but shook myself out of his grasp.

"It's fine; it's not a big deal. I'm lucky to be alive and have the blessings that I do. It's not that painful really, I actually don't know why I suddenly got very emotional," I laughed at his compassionate face. "Hey, don't be a grumpy gills about me, Gill." I paused, realizing his name and my analogy sounded very funny, and giggled a little. I started walking outside to suggest we should leave, and he followed me whole-heartedly, closing the door behind us. We startled strolling along the path as he started the conversation.

"Congratulations, by the way," he said, pointing to my necklace.

I blushed with a smile. "Oh, yeah, ha. That. It was pretty unexpected, but I thought if anyone would ask me, James would. I couldn't ask for more, he is a truly great guy."

"Are you two together?" he asked suddenly as we turned the corner into the Maple Lake District. I saw various people heading down to town and I turned to him as we stopped.

"Um, no we're not," I said as I swallowed and heard him say something under his breath that was somewhat along the lines of '_Good'_ but I of course could not be sure. "Why, did anyone tell you something of the sort?"

"No, just you two are together a lot and he asked you and just, I was curious," he mumbled as he put his hands in his pockets.

"Well are you and Luna together?" I demanded, a little annoyed at his sudden accusations. I put my hands on my hips and looked at him with a frown caused by the mere thinking of Luna's annoying face.

"Uh, well, no, of course, um, not," he sputtered, sounding like a defected record. "Let's just not talk about our love lives right now; it seems to make the other very angry.

"Very well then," I nodded as we continued walking. We started talking about mundane things: favorite colors, animals (neither of us was very big pet people), food, simple things that didn't require much effort to answer from either standpoint. He led me past the town to a part of the beach that seemed very recluse and out of everyone's lives and sight. I sat down first, burying my bright yellow toenails into the soft sand with a content sigh that earned a curious look from him.

"What?" I laughed at him as he sat down next to me, which I figured that he wouldn't do, just because it was Gill. He picked up a stray sea shell that looked like a unicorn's horn and started turning it over and over.

"Nothing," he stated simply as he looked up to my curious face now. "You like the ocean." It wasn't a question, it wasn't even a declaration of incredulous; he said it just as simply as he had stated 'Nothing.'

"Yes, I do," I said contently. "I've always lived near the ocean, wherever I was. It's, relaxing and always changing, always having a past of where it's been, of who's seen it, the romance and mystery of it. I mean," I turned to him, my slight lisp that I got when I started talking fast becoming more prevalent as I said, "there has to be a reason the sea is seen as such a romantic spot. Of why couple's love it, of why so many songs and poetry are written about it, even why so much history surrounds it. Love stories try to encompass the beauty; it's just such a magnificent thing." I turned to Gill, who was now looking out at the ocean as if contemplating what I had spouted out. I grinned and got closer to him so I was lying on his shoulder, earning a satisfying rigid composure from him. "_Come with me, my love. To the sea, the sea of love. I want to tell you how much I love you_" I sang as I closed my eyes and continued humming the rest.

We sat there for a couple of seconds and he finally asked, "Who sings that?"

"Phil Philips," I laughed, opening my eyes and getting off of him and sitting upright again. "Not my favorite song necessarily, but it seemed to fit the context."

"You do know your music," he smiled at me. I was slightly starting to whig out, wondering exactly where the Gill I knew, the grumpy Gill, was, but I smiled back, thinking I could learn to get used to the chance.

"I love music," I shrugged nonchalantly.

He was silent and continued fumbling with the shell, seeming to be struggling of what to say next. "Well, you do have a very nice voice."

"What, this manly thing?" I asked, lowering my voice 2 octaves, even though I did have a pretty low talking voice for a girl.

"I meant your singing voice. It's not bad." He looked away, uncomfortable probably with complementing someone like that.

"Oh. Thank you. I should hope it'd be good after 8 years of training and choir and such."

"That certainly takes dedication," he admitted.

I rolled my eyes. "Contrary to apparently popular belief from you Mr. Gill, I do have some sort of drive in life, thank you very much." I paused, wondering if I should share a bit about my life no one else on the island knew about. I looked up at his bright, expectant face and was met with an urge to share and talk more, so I did just that. "Music was always my constant in the different homes, how I kept going when I thought I was alone."

He looked at me peculiarly and I started explaining my life, going through different foster homes for various reasons, kids picking on me for my hand me down clothes and awkward looks, feeling unwanted by anyone, and eventually moving here. The words poured out as I looked up at his face and gauged his usually calm reaction that winced whenever I said something a little painful for me to get out. I finished my segment and looked down, drawing in the sand as I waiting for him to say _something._

"How do you do it then?" he asked incredulously as I looked up at him.

"Maintain my good looks? Moisturizer and sun block; wouldn't want to get melanoma. "

He stood up, exasperated with my humor and threw his hands in the air. "Not that! Your, bubbliness. Your ability to just talk with people. How you somehow managed to be in the 'in' crowd. How you just keep going. Your charm-." He froze.

"Charm? Don't think I've ever heard myself described like that," I laughed. "Unless you're referring to the show 'Charms,' which in that case I never watched any of it."

"Your happiness," he said softer as he frowned into the ocean. The sun was setting now and cast a beautiful reflection in the waters. I stood up next to him and looked at Gill, who in the lighting had a red-gold hair instead of pale albino. It reminded me of bronze, russet coloring, that of a lion. Gill was proud like a lion, that was for sure. I smiled a little at the idea as he turned to me. "What?"

"Don't you mean pardon? Goodness, where are your manners Gill, what would the neighbors say?" I laughed softly as he sighed and looked back out. I moved a little, so I was staring at his pondering face. I was struck with my first thoughts of him, my 'mystery boy.' He was different from that time, as if the ocean and beach made him less harsh, stripping him of his usual insensitive exterior. I shook my head to clear my wandering thoughts and pushed my hair back with a small smile. "This is how."

"You know you make no sense," he said through tight lips. I shrugged.

"But that's how I'm happy. If you truly want to be happy, you have to let go of all your cares and stress and, issues. They don't matter. All that matters is focusing on the future and not dwelling on the petty things others do. At least, those are my thoughts," I shrugged as I turned around and started the walk home, realizing how hungry I was. As with when I had first really gotten to talking with him, he grabbed my wrist. This was different though. Maybe it was the deeper talking, or the fact he now knew my whole life. Maybe it was just because this was Gill, and Gill never reacted like this with anyone. Maybe it was the beach getting to me, wanting me to have romance in my life. Maybe it was even that I was at peace and I felt he didn't want me to leave any more than I did and that he only held me by a gentle grab. It was enough so that I turned around to look at him, the sun creating a halo behind his head.

"Are you… You know… You don't have to go right now," he said, shaking his head.

"I kind of have to," I said, pointing to my super growly stomach. He bit his lip.

"Have dinner with me. My house. It's getting dark, I don't want you to walk home by yourself and worry about dinner when it's my fault you're out here."

"Its fine," I shrugged. "I don't mind and don't live that far anyways. Unless you're worried about me because axe murderers live here?" I asked as he looked a little shocked. Maybe it was a little much in the dramatic department, but I shrugged. "One can only hope!"

"I insist, as friends," he almost pleaded. I really was starting to be concerned. Gill never cared before. He also never talked deeply or even wanted my friendship back in his life until earlier this day. As if in memory my new shiny necklace reflected onto his chest. I stepped back, feeling its burden.

"I, I can't. I'm sorry," I swallowed as I walked backwards and voyaged to my house, much more disappointed than I'd thought I'd be. But, even if James and I were not official, whatever had happened was probably not fair to him at all. I don't know if Gill followed me or stared after me, all I knew was that I was an emotional teenager, and being a teenager was super complicated.

The rest of that week was better than the weeks before it. Of course all the girls gossiped about my pretend love life, but James and I laughed it out and tried not to notice it every time we were together. However, we were used to it already and I personally was eagerly awaiting a new topic to take the precedence of news all over the school. The week got better though, because Gill and I were on talking terms again and could easily converse in chemistry or even in passing by. Neither of us brought up what had happened Monday night making me wonder personally if it had been a figment of my imagination instead of actual events. There were times though, when he talked to me or our eyes met, that I knew it wasn't.

That weekend was the _official_ weekend before the dance and a big party was held. It was either for Luna or Chase's birthday, I really wasn't sure. All I knew was that there was a beach party, everyone was going to be there, and that both Gill and James would be there, which in my mind was all that mattered.

I dressed Saturday morning in my blue and white polka dotted bathing suit, pinning my hair up in a high messy bun. I wore a white tank top and cute blue shorts over it, making sure to grab a towel and lots of sun block (I wasn't kidding with Gill that one time; I was terrified of getting melanoma because I was so white, so I always had intense amounts on). I smiled, reassured with my reflection, and hurried off to the beach Gill and I had been at only a couple days before.

When I got there, almost everyone was playing already. Kathy and a girl I didn't recognize with red hair were playing beach volleyball, but mainly people were either in the ocean or lying down on towels. I got up on my tip-toes, trying to spot a familiar tuft of blonde hair, but was then immediately pulled up by a pair of very strong arms. I gasped, trying to hit my assailant.

"Put me down!" I squealed, hitting James on his arm as he laughed. He had abandoned his glasses today, making his eyes twinkle brighter as he started walking with me to the ocean. I sucked in my breath. "Not there!"

He sighed dramatically, falling down on the beach so that I fell on him as well. "Well, you are no fun," he pouted, though I could still see a smile forming in the corner of his mouth.

"I think you'll live," I laughed at him as I righted myself up, trying not to notice the fact that he was already not wearing a shirt. I may have been 16, but I was still not all too comfortable with shirtless guys, which wasn't helped in any way, as he had a decently muscled body. _Just keep your eyes on his, eyes Liz _I thought to myself as Kathy shouted at me to join in her game. I looked at James who shrugged and got up and graciously get me up as well. I wiped off the sand and eagerly went to get into the game.

It ended up being James, Kathy, and me against Luke, Owen, and the red-haired girl who was so obviously flirting with Luke it wasn't even funny. Kathy and Owen were bash-talking each other on the opposite sides, but in the cute equally flirty way. I sighed as I tucked my hair loose strands of hair behind my ears. So it was going to be one of _those_ days.

I turned to James. "Okay, so you have to promise, not to make fun of my playing because I, suck. Very badly." He started laughing and I hit his arm. "I'm being totally serious, I do!"

He smiled and put his arm around me playfully. "It's okay, I'm not that good myself. We'll just bear through it together though and it hopefully won't last long. Besides, you have my necklace and that ma'am, is pretty lucky stuff."

I looked down at my chain and smiled. "Well then, I guess I'll be in good shape today."

"That's the sprit hun," he laughed as I forced a smile. I didn't mind pet names usually, except for one. Hun. Ugh, it bothered me. It was like your beloved other was trying to call you a bee or something which was always weird to me. I tried not showing how much it bothered me though and instead focused on the game.

After an intense game that involved me dodging every ball that came my way and attempting to serve but failing miserably, it was lunch time. By this point, it was clear that everyone who was going to come had already arrived, but I still saw no familiar platinum head. We got into the lunch line of barbequed hot dogs and hamburgers (done by Chase and helped by Owen who had left the game a couple of times to do so) and I tried hiding my disappointment so James wouldn't see me sad about something again. I grabbed a burger as we both headed to the circle of our friends. He sat next to me as I ate silently, a little disappointed Gill wasn't there. Luna also looked very angry as she pouted near we were sitting. She was talking to who I thought was her sister very loudly in a way that we could hear every word she said.

"I can't _believe_ he's not here," she hissed to her sister. I didn't want to turn to look at her, so I started eating as I still attentively listened.

"He does get busy sometimes," her companion reminded kindly. Definitely her sister.

"He said that he would be here. He even promised. Typical Gilbert though!" she sighed angrily as I looked up and saw Gill coming up to the beach- shirt thankfully still on-, his attire more beach friendly than normal. As he came up I noticed Luna get quieter, probably expecting a lengthy apology from him, but instead all she got was him coming straight up to me, ignoring her completely. I had to admit it was humorous, but still very confusing.

"Hey Lizzy, can I set my stuff near yours?" he asked, holding out a towel with rubber ducks on it. I held back a giggle as I nodded, motioning a spot right next to my bag. He went to go get food as I smiled into my burger, happy once again that everyone I wanted to be here was in fact here. I turned to James as he gave me a quizzical look.

"You know, it's just such a nice day," I grinned cheekily at him. He set down his plate down and ran his fingers through his hair which for some reason made me laugh. I couldn't help it though. Even if Luna was a total jerk to me right now I would still laugh; I was just in way to much of a good mood.

"You're such a weird girl," he laughed as I shrugged nonchalantly. He stood up then got on his knees right in front of me. "I've decided, Miss Elizabeth, you are way too relaxed today and not nearly as wet as you should be."

I gasped but continued giggling as he grabbed me in a carrying position. He marched us to the ocean, much to the laughs and cheers of everyone else. I tried not noticing his strength, as if I was no more than a feather, but was sadly not invincible against the power of what muscles could do about a girl's fantasies. He held me in his arms as he started the journey into the sea. As we got in deeper I could feel the cool water on my back and I squealed like the girl I was. James laughed and I scrunched my face in concentration and wiggled myself a little in a position so that my legs were around his chest. If it bothered him, he didn't say anything, but I could tell he was a little surprised.

"Now sir, I've decided. Either you take me back to shore, or, you're going down with me," I grinned devilishly at him, my inner flirt somehow emerging from the shell it had buried itself in for the past 16 years. He shrugged and let his legs collapse so we both went under. As soon as I was up I gasped as I hadn't expected him to actually go through with it. I started hitting and splashing him as he laughed, not remembering exactly or that the whole student population was on the beach probably staring at us. He grabbed me in his arms as we slightly struggled in the water in a super playful way. I was just having such a good time and was caught up in the moment that before I knew it I had turned around and kissed him on the cheek. He blinked down at me as his face broke into a grin that reminded me of a little boys' expression when he got caught in the cookie jar but was still trying to make you feel sorry for him. It was adorable and I thought I was finally going to do it, and actually kiss him when the beach erupted in wolf whistles.

"Get a room!" Owen laughed, taking a swig of what I hoped was just root beer. We turned back to them, me still in his arms. I slipped out of them looked at his eyes, which were twinkling in happiness. I grinned at him and grabbed his hand, leading us back to everyone. A couple peopled now looked at me with shock, but I was used to it by now. As I scanned faces (most of them smiling at me), one stood out particularly, but I had chosen not to dwell on it at that moment. However, when I went to bed that night, the same face bore into my conscience.

It was Gill, sitting there in almost the same position we had been Monday, and having the most shocked and disappointed look on his face as he started at me and the boy whose hand I had been holding. And it was this face that threw me off guard so that I couldn't truly understand what had happened to him and to us this whole week.


	9. Chapter 9: Mr Darcy?

_So, this is some more from the mind of Gill, just because I can. It may drag a little, but the next chapter will make up for any bored feelings any of you darling readers may feel about it. So continue enjoying, reviewing, being amazing, all that jazz!_

_A/N: This first journal entry happens a little farther back in time than where the last chapter ended. Just a little FYI. Enjoy!_

_A/N2: Updates may be starting to come a little less frequent due to a massive amount of summer homework I have to do for various AP classes, so you have been a little warned!_

* * *

_Monday, Spring 23 of March_

_Dear Diary,_

_Today was an okay day. Actually scratch that. Today was a very confusing day. What with dance invitations, a beach song, and my sudden forward invitations, I don't know what to do. To the common person, it would seem like I liked Lizzy. But, I don't. I couldn't…. I think I would know if I did at least. A guy has to know these things before other people do, don't they? Besides, what good would it do even if I did? She likes James (apparently that's his name), not me. Why would she like me? I'm rude and horrible and everything she is not. It's all very confusing right now. I can't wait for this stupid dance to be over so Luna will stop bothering me._

_Maybe time will stop all this craziness in my life. I could do for some normality again in my life actually. And some tomato juice. May go make that right now…._

_Until next time, Gill_

I sighed as I closed my journal. As I lay in my bed and finished my entry, I frowned, my glasses hitting against my eyebrows. I, of course had contacts, but when I was mayor, the super professional glasses look would be a must. I had taken out my contacts already though, since I was getting ready for bed. My glasses were big and nerdy, but I secretly liked them. I liked the fact they made me feel smarter, and had once noticed that they were similar to Lizzy's.

Ah, Lizzy. I really need to stop thinking of her. I frowned as I tucked my journal into my desk drawer. I had thought writing in my journal would clear my thoughts about her, but alas not. Her singing voice still rang in my ear, her head still gently pressed on my shoulder where it had seemed to fit perfectly. Her telling me about her struggles in life, so very nonchalantly, as if it was not a big deal. Her laugh, that same laugh that so used to bother me but now I had grown a little desensitized and almost used to it even. Those haunting words still circling in my head. _"This is how." _My excitement when I thought she meant me and the slight disappointment when she in fact didn't.

I ran a hand through my hair and started thinking, truly thinking. It was true, she was a happy person. It was also very true I had not acted like myself at the beach. Offering her to eat with my father and me, grabbing her wrist possessively? That wasn't me at all! I didn't know what had happened between us, but whatever it was, it could not ever happen again. She was taken. So no matter what I thought about her, I needed to stop it. Besides, this was ridiculous. Just yesterday she had been a simpleton. Now, she was… something more?

I groaned as I took off my glasses and turned off my lamp. She could not be something more to me. Lizzy and I were friends. I didn't need that kind of distraction in my life, especially not from someone as plain as her. I drifted off to sleep; grateful sleep could take me from this spiraling nightmare.

* * *

_Saturday, Spring 28 of March_

_Oh. Well, I don't suppose anyone saw that coming. I mean, I for sure didn't. As usual, the birthday duo's big beach extravaganza did not fail to disappoint in the usual drama department for what I'm sure will be good for the petty talk on Monday. _

_Owen and Kathy seemed to be hitting if off, both on the volleyball court and off. They were flirting so much before I even got there I was surprised I hadn't felt it back here at the house, which I was coincidently still at because my father had some mindless task for me to do. I was actually quite aggravated with him, as that was time that could have been spent with, someone._

I paused in my entry, not wishing to talk about _her _until absolutely necessary. Pushing up my glasses and ignoring my sunburn (I had been a little too distracted to worry about sun block), I continued.

_Luke apparently does have the ability to go into public places and not make a total fool of himself. I know paper form of me, I was equally shocked. Who would have thought it possible? People often think I'm much too harsh when discussing him, but I don't think so. In other related news, Selena, the daughter of the Toucan Island Inn owners is back in town. She had always had a thing for Luke (for whatever reason I myself could never comprehend, luckily), and they were also in full flirting mode today. I almost wished I had been there longer to watch it, as watching Luke trying to do anything is always enjoyable and good for morale._

_Luna was there. I swear, I regret asking her to that blasted dance every day since the day I asked her. It's always constant streams of complaining and wanting my opinion. I don't care about color choices! We have similar hair and coloring, so whatever she picked out would be fine. She just needs to accept that and stop bothering me about it. And I say, if I have to hear her complain about Lizzy one more time-_

I froze in my entry and sighed. I guess now was the time to get down to talking about it. I glanced at the clock, which flashed **12:25. **Yes, I still had time.

_Well here it is, finally talking about Lizzy. Since my last entry, we have gone back to normal talking terms. I almost forgot what it was like actually having someone to talk to with a little intelligence in them; it just (shockingly) never really happens here. I don't care if I've grown up with these people my whole life, as Father always pesters. My peers here are just not always the sharpest tools in the shed. They are each more of a plain and simple tool instead of shiny sharp ones. But this is entirely beside the point. _

_Today was supposed to be a better day. I had not strategically planned my outfit, but I guess the polo and khaki shorts looked good on me. The shirt happened to apparently make my eyes bluer, as Luna pointed out, but I didn't notice. And neither did Lizzy._

_She, however, was too busy looking and laughing and flirting with… James. When I got there seemed to be the climax of their apparently blissful day, the finale of which being that disgusting display of affection in the ocean. Kissing someone in front of absolutely everyone is not romantic at all. It was just an event in life that in my opinion looked like it meant nothing. Even if they looked at each other like fools afterward. Or even if they happened to grab hands afterwards. Even if I myself had never had anything like that happen to me. It still did not make it romantic._

_I suppose they're together now. Not that it's a big deal. He just will never understand her ways and humor. Such a simpleton like someone whose name is James (how common was that) could never deserve an individual as unique and headstrong as Lizzy. _

"He'll never deserve her," I whispered, this new revelation hitting me like a coconut to the head, which coincidently had happened after the two lovebirds had left. I blinked a couple times and quickly scribbled an end to my journal entry. My realization was so random I was almost a little incredulous it had been me who thought of it. Usually, these sorts of prophetic things never came to me, but I guess Lizzy was an exception in my mind to most things.

As I eventually went to sleep after my night routine, I thought of how to act at school. I could never truly be happy for her (that dim-witted idiot would probably end up hurting Lizzy in the end), but as a friend I could never cause anything stupid or rude to happen again that would danger our friendship. I would just have to go through the normal school routine as if nothing had changed, and hope that the next week would go by very fast. Besides, really, nothing had changed. She was just, somewhat dating someone while I didn't very much approve of the guy. It was totally normal.

After such a dreary weekend, I was somewhat looking forward to a nice Monday just working in the library and doing good librarian things. Like shelving books. I loved shelving books. That was not only efficient, but a vast thought consumer. Those books wouldn't Dewey Decimal themselves onto shelves. In fact, as I got to school, I was looking forward to doing some library work all day.

I suppose another plus side of my routine was that it was Monday, an odd day, and I wouldn't see Lizzy in class, but that was beside the point. I wasn't hiding from her so I wouldn't have to say anything about Saturday's events; that was cowardice. No, it was just merely avoiding all unpleasant conversations I could have with her about her choice of beloved other. I didn't want to upset her again, as I felt I had already done a good a pretty good job of that a couple weeks ago to her. Just avoiding talking at all, that would probably be my best strategy.

And so, I reported early to the library during first period as to avoid any human reaction as quickly as I could. Eli gave me a strange look, but I merely smiled back at her nonchalantly. Of course, this earned an even stranger look as I realized with chagrin that I never smile at her normally. I adverted my eyes as quickly as I could and went right away to shelving the turned in books.

I managed to get through the class period painlessly enough. After the low amount of shelving, I did other odd jobs here and there and even had time for a little internet chess. Chess was mind consuming and if I did say so myself, I was quite good (the benefits of being an only child; you could perfect the little quirky skills you would never use elsewhere in life). I stayed in at break as well, not wanting to deal with Luna again (she had given me quite a long speech after Saturday's fiasco), as well as not wanting to see anything else if it could be avoided. The bell for third period rang as other students came in for their study hall. I started spinning in my chair at the front desk, not really caring at this point but mainly trying not to think about-

"Gill, what are you doing?"

I stopped the chair immediately with my foot so that I was facing the back. I spun around a little bit so I was facing the front, as well as, her. She was in a baggy t-shirt and jeans, her hair in a somewhat preppy ponytail, those wonderful big glasses on her nose. She was giving me a strange look and I realized how childish I must have looked, spinning in a comfy chair. I cleared my throat and ran a hand through my hair.

"They spin a lot?" I suggested, trying to hide my embarrassment. She just laughed.

"Yes, though I don't think you're the first to discover the beauty of spinning office chairs." Her voice sounded hoarse and deeper than usual, meaning she was probably sick. She would be one of those people that always got sick; it just seemed such a Lizzy thing to happen.

"Are you ill?" I asked, a little surprised in the sudden edge of my voice.

She waved her hand with a shake of her head. "Pssssh, no. Of course not. Why would you-"She was cut off by a loud and violent bout of coughing.

"That doesn't sound like nothing," I grimaced, though a little proud of my somewhat cliché comment to her. She pulled out a handkerchief with the monogrammed letters _A.P._ on them in beautiful purple calligraphy. I was distracted by the handkerchief, wanting to know who's the initials were as she sounded like she was about to cough up a lung.

"Are you okay, you really sound like you should go home, or see the nurse. Something at least," I insisted. I knew, however she'd protest.

"I can't get behind on," more coughing, "my schoolwork. It'll just be a couple days until the weekend.

I stood up and walked on the other side of the counter to give her my handkerchief as well, as she had already used the one she had. She gave me a grateful look that made my ears warm, but I ignored the feeling as she continued coughing. Some girl I didn't recognize came and brought her a water bottle as Lizzy shot her an appreciative look as well.

"I insist you go home, you can't do this to yourself. As a friend, won't you listen to me?" I asked, once again surprised at my concern for her well being. However, I realized that if she was not here, that would be one less day to spend with James for her, which was okay in my book.

"Maybe," she sighed as she coughed into my handkerchief I had handed her. "By the way, thank you for this, I appreciate it," she smiled small and coughed again.

"Anytime," I smiled back as she turned to leave. "Wait, why were you in here?"

She turned around and laughed. "Duh!" more coughing as she pulled out a slip from her pocket, "this is a list from my math teacher about all the student's scores to enter in the grades, since all the teacher's computes aren't working or something. Gosh, I guess you're just so distracting Gill!"

She laughed as she handed me the list and headed out, not realizing the effect the words had on me. Obviously, I knew they were meant playfully in common jest, yet still it didn't fail that I grinned a little when she said that. Once she left, I stood there for a couple of seconds, trying to compose myself. I turned and saw Eli looking at me with a happy smile.

"You like her, don't you Gill?" she asked breathlessly, the same way she talked to everyone else.

"No, I don't. She's just a friend," I shrugged, going to sit back down and spin some more.

"Well, if it matters to you, I could tell she thinks very highly of you," Eli gushed as I spun back and forth. I stopped to look at her, to see if she meant it, but she instead was already working on something else.

The rest of the day happened as every other day of my life went; slowly. I don't know what it was, but at the library I usually had so much more things to do then today. Maybe it was because in the library, I did almost all my classes in there instead of in an actual classroom, so I usually had more time consuming work to do. Maybe it was that I had less on my mind those other times so I could be allowed the freedom to dawdle on random thought tangents. Just today though, I finished everything promptly, allowing myself more free time to think about life. I even decided to actually go to math class instead of learning how to graph tangent by myself. That was how bored I was.

Once I finished the day, I went straight home instead of waiting for Candace and Luna like I usually did. Once I got home, I noticed I still had a good 3 hours before my father arrived. I chose a book from the numerous shelves, not noticing what I had chosen from our classic literary repertoire until I sat down.

_Pride and Prejudice_. How ironic, but slightly dull. All the girly and romantic novels on the shelves had belonged to my mother, but after her death, father never had the heart to throw any of them out, which is why they were more stocked with Bronte and Austen instead of the Tolkien and Orwell I enjoyed. I suppose stories about young women who could never get married were enjoying to some, but I personally found them tedious and insipid.

I flipped through the first couple pages with a somewhat dissatisfied view. I had read the story years ago when I went through a classic literary phase one summer, and even then hadn't exactly been impressed by much. From what I remembered, it was the story of a strong willed protagonist named Lizzy who had to deal with a certain gentleman she hated because he had insulted her, all at the same time that he had suddenly become extremely attracted to her.

I froze mid flip, shocked by my revelation. The correspondence from book to real life was astounding. Lizzy Bennet, Lizzy Pilgrim. Both very strong willed women who didn't deal with the common people's pettiness. But if that was so, the way I would fit in would be…

... Was I Mr. Darcy?

No, I couldn't be. Mr. Darcy was rude and snobby and wore ill-fitting tight pants. I glanced down at my pants, which were not tight. At least, not more than acceptable for men of my generation. And, I wasn't rude. Except for that one time a couple weeks ago when I had been slightly rude to Lizzy because I thought she had liked me when I was head over heels for Luna at the time. That was pretty rude of me. Snobby though? I wasn't snobby… Unless one counted the conversation I had with my father a week ago when I basically insulted Lizzy right in front of him.

I groaned. I_ was_ Mr. Darcy. I sighed; annoyed with the fact I was now an apparent jerk. True, maybe Lizzy Bennet and Darcy ended up together in the happily ever after, but that was beside the point. In a way, this tied in with my whole happiness thing. Usually happy people weren't jerks, unless of course they were the type of people whose happiness came from humiliating others.

I sat the book down, a little frustrated with it as well as the revelation it had given me. Before my father got home, I distracted myself by instead focusing my efforts on the house, cleaning and organizing the different parts of it. Once he got home, everything was in order, all cobwebs gone, dishes put away-a rare commodity in our house-, and all other miscellaneous tasks he'd been meaning me to do before but I never got around to it. He congratulated my outstanding cleaning job, but I merely faked a disposition and hurried upstairs as fast as I could. I tried and succeeded with falling asleep quickly before I could decide how to deal with my newfound problem.

The next morning, I got ready quickly, embracing the beautiful Tuesday day. True, it was a little chillier than expected, but I liked it. I hurried to get ready, then almost immediately rushed to school. Upon arrival, I saw no messy brown hair and assumed Lizzy stayed home instead of coming to school, just as I had suggested.

My thoughts were confirmed when fourth period came around and she was not in study hall. I sat in my chair and watched for her, but all I got was a very crestfallen James (of whose sadness I think I enjoyed a little too much, but at the time I felt I was justified). It was staring at him which led me to a brilliant idea. I may be Mr. Darcy, but that didn't mean I had to act like him. Maybe by doing good and bringing happiness, I in turn could offset my seemingly inevitable path to permanent sullen behaviors. And I knew just how to begin my course of action.

After a very dull chemistry class (no Lizzy to amuse me), I again went straight home and began gathering a different array of things. Movies, cough drops, Kleenex, soup, and many others all went in a basket I had out. For I had determined, what better way to start my plan of a happy life than helping the person who first inspired my gladness. I grabbed my basket and hurried across districts to reach the house of the person I had most wanted to see today. I got there, smoothed my hair, and then knocked on the door.

"Lizzy, Lizzy? Are you alive?" As soon as I said it I slapped my forehead to my palm. Note to self, don't make dead jokes to the sick person. Especially when there was no answer…

"Hey, Lizzy? Are you alright?" Still no answer. I wrestled with the thought of just leaving, but then I thought and wondered if there was genuinely something wrong with her. Against my proper and polite upbringing, I cautiously opened the door.

She was there, lying on the couch, sleeping and looking very peaceful. I closed the door quietly to not disturb her with outside noises and decided I should probably just leave the things near her instead of unnecessarily waking her up. I set the basket on the ground near where her head was and was about to go search for paper to leave a note, when she woke up and blinked at me.

"Gill, is that you?" she asked slowly and groggily, looking at me with wincing eyes. I noticed her glasses on the ground and I handed them to her.

"Yes, yes it's me."

"What, why are you here?" she yawned, peering at me with those warm brown eyes. I stood, thinking how best to phrase my purpose at her house while trying very hard not to sound like a creeper.

"Well, you obviously aren't doing the best health wise. My father sent me over with some things," I lied smoothly, not wanting to know how concerned I was for her. I bent down and picked up the basket. "There are a lot of different things in here, such as medicine, cough drops, cup of noodles, entertainment…" I held up a couple of the chick flicks I had put in. She smiled at me.

"Do I see the BBC _Pride and Prejudice_ in there? With Colin Firth?" she said, mustering a small laugh. I smiled, thinking of the irony from yesterday, and nodded. She laughed and got into a more sitting up position. "Do you mind putting it in, the player's over there," she pointed to the side of the room.

I got it all set up and turned back to Lizzy, who was looking through the basket. I saw her smile down at the cup of noodles as I cleared my throat. She looked up to me with, the smiled still on her face. "Well, I guess I'll be going now," I said, noticing how awkward I must sound. Good job Gill. I started heading to the door when she coughed, making me turn back.

"You, you're leaving?" she asked in a small voice, giving me a heart-breaking look. All I could do was nod back. "You don't have to Gill, I don't mind. I mean, I hate asking you this, but would you mind staying? I don't want to be alone."

She turned her head to the side in what I assumed shame for needing someone as I blushed furiously. Even though I knew she meant she just needed another human being here and not really me specifically, the line 'I don't want to be alone' caused heat to rise to my cheeks and ears. However, when she turned back around, I had made myself mildly composed. I sat next to her on the couch. "Sure. Let's go Mr. Darcy," I slightly laughed as she grinned at me and threw her arms around me.

"Thank you so much Gill!" She squeezed me hard as I awkwardly tried hugging her back. As she released me, her eyes were glittering with tears of gratitude as she shook her head. "Sorry, being sick always makes me so darn emotional," she laughed as she picked up my handkerchief I had given her yesterday. It made me a little proud to see her have it, but of course she again would never know that.

"Shall I start it?" I asked, pointing to the TV whilst trying to get her attention of me (for my own sake at least). She nodded as I pressed play and we were given the entertainment of the movie. At some of the parts she would say something witty about it, making me laugh. I could tell she really genuinely enjoyed the movie, which made me happy I had decided to put it in the basket. We had watched for a while before she asked me to help her make the noodles. I however, the perfect gentleman of course, offered to make it for her and she obliged, though a little unwillingly. I continued doing other things for her, to try and help her with not moving. All the while though, I tried not paying too much attention to the movie, afraid to see how much of a jerk Mr. Darcy truly was so as to not feel so bad about myself. I brought her the noodles right at the proposal scene.

"In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire, and love you," Colin Firth said, looking at Lizzy Bennet with a great deal of forceful love. My Lizzy (not_ my_ Lizzy like that, but just distinguishing between the two, for as my mind mentally corrected me, _'She's not yours'_) laughed at that as I handed her the noodles.

"Why is that so funny?" I asked, a little confused. Usually girls during proposal scenes got very emotional and love struck, not amused.

"He's just such a jerk, and expects her to marry him. It's just so, pretentious," she laughed, making my heart sink a little. "Sometimes, guys are so stupid, no offense."

"No, it's fine. We usually aren't the best minded creatures, I'll admit." I paused, looking at her before I started arguing more, the words just flying out almost by themselves. "I don't think it's his fault he's a jerk to her though. Sometimes, what we think of rude behavior and what others think of as rude behavior differs greatly," I pointed out, trying to redeem the character.

"He insinuated she wasn't pretty! That's pretty rude, I think" she added, sipping her noodles.

"Girls shouldn't base beauty on what guys think. Sometimes we don't always say what we mean," I hinted, hoping she would get where I was going with the thought.

"Well, maybe guys should just say what they mean, instead of confusing us poor girls and themselves." She frowned at a noodle that slipped off her fork as I inwardly groaned. Apparently not. The disk ended as I glanced at the clock, not realizing it was already 6:12. Lizzy followed my gaze and gasped. "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry Gill for keeping you here this long!"

I shrugged. "Its fine, it's much better than being at home." With her, I didn't notice the time, nor did I miss the awkward attempts at conversations between me and my father at home, shockingly enough. She must have noticed something in my expression, as she set her noodles down and looked at me.

"What's so wrong with home?" she asked gently. I looked at her, prepared to say nothing, but her expression stopped me. Usually, when someone said they wanted to talk, you could tell they were merely trying to be polite, and actually didn't want to talk at all. But with Lizzy, something inside of me caved in, and I started talking.

"My father, he just doesn't understand me that much, or doesn't understand my ways all that much. He tries pushing things on me that I don't want to do. We don't talk all that much, even though I think he tries to. I don't understand my emotions or depression or just, anything," I rambled on as she listened extensively. I didn't really need solutions to any of my problems as I thought I did, just someone to listen, which she did. It made me, happy. I was still going on about random things when she started coughing violently again as I pulled out cold medicine from the basket.

"Here," I said, pouring her a little. She looked at it skeptically, tears in her eyes from all the coughing. "Besides the fact that you're probably overworking yourself like crazy, you don't want to be burdened with that cough for very long, it's not good for your health. Not that I'm terribly worried about your health or you or anything," I added as she swallowed it. She looked as if she was about to say some witty retort in return right as someone knocked on the door.

"I wonder who that is?" she mused, trying to get herself up unsuccessfully. I rolled my eyes at her, sat her back down, got up, and opened the door to James.

"Gill," he said stiffly as he saw me. He was taller than me, a slight deflation to my manhood. I noticed he had a container of what appeared to be some sort of broth.

"James!" Lizzy said happily as she saw him. I begrudgingly opened the door wide open so they could see each other more. I noticed his expression soften as he saw her and welcomed himself in.

"I made some miso soup off a recipe the doctor in training gave me. Jin, I think his name is?" I nodded at him impatiently as he continued. "I got a recipe for him, made some soup, and came to rescue a damsel in distress from a boring night." He grinned at Lizzy.

I turned to her, sure she'd blanch at so cheesy a line, but she was grinning like a, mad woman in love. "Of course!" She frowned suddenly as she glanced at me, apparently remembering I was there. "Oh. I forgot, I already had some food."

James shrugged and went into the kitchen, putting the soup in the fridge. "Problem solved." He looked at me up and down, no doubt wanting privacy which I was very fine with. I started grabbing my things as Lizzy looked at me again.

"Oh, you're already going Gill?" she asked, surprised. Honestly, women sometimes. Thinking I'd like to be the awkward third wheel to the happy couple. Lizzy may have been an incredibly smart woman, but sometimes she truly could be very imperceptive.

"Yes, it's fine. Father will be wondering where I am probably, and I don't think I could get through another minute of the movie," I said, a little more harshly then intended. "You can just bring it to me sometime when you're done." I nodded acknowledging at James and headed out the door as quickly as possible.

The rest of the week passed by without any signs of Lizzy, who I assumed was still recuperating, making it a very dull week for me. I tried not thinking of what happened on that night, not wishing to know of the cute romantic happenings between the two. The rest of life on the island however was preparing steadily for the flower festival and school dance. Flower arches and colored pots lined the streets as the aura was happy and springy. Every day Father hummed a new tune at breakfast, showing how in high spirits he was. I tried not dampening his happiness with my growing concerns about Lizzy, but I could never tell if I convinced him or not.

At last, Friday arrived, the day of everything. At school, Luna finalized with me plans for the evening and handed me my flower. We were wearing the elite blue mist flowers, no doubt her attempt to match my eyes and my favorite blue button down, as that was what the dress was for the dance. The girls wore either a spring dress the color of the matching flowers or that had the flower on it, while the guys wore coordinating button up shirts. It was somewhat classy, but casual at the same time.

I kept the flower safe all the way until I got home. As I put it in the fridge upon my arrival at my house, I glanced up at the clock, realizing how much time I had. I got dressed so I wouldn't have to worry about it later, then sat and watched some cheesy chick flick where the unlikely paired couple ended up together in spite of major differences. Despite my will, it made me think of Lizzy.

I hoped she was there tonight, even though she had recently been sick. Maybe that made me selfish, I couldn't distinguish it. I'm sure she'd look nice in whatever flower she was in. This feeling of worry was new to me; even though I was sure I didn't like her. It was in fact perfectly acceptable for a friend to be concerned about another friend's happiness and health. I just, couldn't like her. I frowned as I thought about it, not quite sure how my own emotions felt about the situation. These thoughts engulfed my mind until I glanced at the clock and jumped up because I realized I had to leave soon. I hurriedly pinned my flower on my breast pocket and rushed to Luna's.

She opened the door upon my arrival, looking very pretty in a flattering blue dress that flared out. She had her hair half up instead of in pigtails, a small blue mist flower pinning the curls back. Ringlets suited the outfit nicely, the wide straps of the dress making me much more comfortable than the strapless one she wanted to make would have. Luna looked at me, a little shyer than normal.

I smiled reassuring at her. "You look very nice tonight Luna." She smiled timidly and blushed a little as her grandma hurried over to take pictures. I smiled, sure the night would go well, as after that we had to then hurry to go meet up with our group at dinner to then afterwards go to the dance of what was sure to be a very interesting night.


	10. Chapter 10: The Dance

_Hello again lovely readers. Sorry for the cliche Chapter title, but it actually is the same title as Christopher Pike's "The Dance", an angsty and almost necessary teenage staple, but that is very much beside the point. Hope everyone enjoys the lengthy chapter, even if if it's a little too cliche for people's tastes. There's a lot of different viewpoints in it, so if one of your characters is POV'ed and it's not done perfectly, I am sorry!_

_As always, please review, comment, chat it up, criticize, help, or just anything, and continue sending me happiness in the form of reviews or PM's! Enjoy!_

* * *

(Lizzy)

I coughed as I smoothed down my dress, waiting for James to come pick me up. The virus I had this past week seemed to have been an only couple days thing, but here I was on Friday, coughing still. Though I had never exactly been a sickly person, I usually did tend to get sick around times of great importance for me, such as middle school field trips, or other days of, importance. It was in these instances that I usually did get very frustrated with my body. I glanced to the clock, seeing that he still had some time before he said when he'd get to my house.

I sighed. I guess the nervousness of my first actual date was getting to me. Living in so many different towns, one would think I had tons of guy experience, but alas no. Guys had never really liked me or even gotten to know me in my history of living different places. Those Y-chromosome individuals actually never really talked to me before either, which was why all my guy experiences here in Waffle Town were such a new and different thing. Not shocking to say, I had never gone on any real dates before. And it was because of this that led to me being super excited and nervous and happy and any other emotion one could have when preparing for a date. I giggled a little, spinning in my dress in scatterbrained anticipation.

The past week I had really gotten to know James quite a lot. He had come by every day of the week after school to keep me company, which had led to us talking a lot. As we had sat on my couch (totally G of course), we had discussed different interests we had, such as books, movies, music, as well as gossip about the different people on the island. He seemed to enjoy Luke and Chase like I did, and thought the same teachers that I did were boring. We both felt Owen and Kathy would be good together, and in anticipation of the dance had discussed and finalized different plans. There was only one subject which I noticed he stayed very clear of.

Gill's behavior on Tuesday had been, unexpected. It was awfully nice of him to bring around the things he had (that cough medicine really had been very useful), as well as stay with me when I asked him to, especially since I had thought he wouldn't have. And then he was suddenly randomly telling me about his life? I wasn't complaining or anything, it was just all very, astounding. I felt that with the talking we did, he had let me farther into his emotions; farther than I think anyone had ever been. Though I usually wasn't very insightful, I even felt as if there had been more, but then he had left suddenly and I hadn't seen him since then. I knew I'd see him tonight though, with Luna. Ignoring the slight anger I felt when thinking her name, I glanced again at the clock. Two minutes had passed. I laughed a little at my impatience and looked at myself once again in the mirror.

We had opted with lavender as our flower, which James was surprisingly okay with. I already had a pretty purple dress I'd had for ages, but didn't know how he'd feel with wearing purple (which most guys had issues with). Luckily, though, he was very willing, a lot more willing than I thought he'd be. It was a somewhat odd sort of dress standard for the dance, but I just supposed small schools could do that sort of thing. However, the dress code didn't really concern me; as a typical high school girl, I was just way more excited to wear my purple dress again.

It was quite a pretty ensemble which I was somewhat very proud of. Growing up with my circumstances, I usually didn't have very attractive clothing since everything I got was usually hand me downs. I, though, had always wanted something pretty that normal girls my age would wear. So, the year I lived in New York, I saved up a lot of my money and bought what I was now wearing now. It was scoop-necked and had little bell sleeves instead of being strapless. The bottom of it flared with ruffles, giving it a very nice old timey feel. The fact that it really was a great dress to spin in was just an added plus. I had curled the bottom of my hair and pinned it to the side with a little wisps left out, to attempt and give me the classic beauty look. However, it would not be determined if the effect worked until a certain someone arrived.

I fixed my hair a little and reapplied my lip-gloss. _Just, breath_ I thought to myself as I tried not to stare at the clock. I started to pace and had done so for a minute of two when there was a knock on the door. Grinning, I went and opened it partially.

I peered at James around the side of the door so he could only see my face. He looked very dashing in his purple button down and khakis, as well as the very necessary low-top black Converse. In that sense, we looked as if we ought to match, looking the perfect couple from a time such as the 1950's. His eyes twinkled behind polished glasses, and his hair was adorably smoothed down into a perfect coif. He grinned at me and held up two lavender flowers.

"Now see, if you are hiding, how am I supposed give you this?" he laughed, lifting up the flower with the wristband on it.

"Magic?" I suggested mischievously with a grin, still keeping myself hidden behind the door, though still somewhat a little shy at the same time. I was apprehensive of his reaction to me in a dress, and didn't want to look stupid in front of him.

As if reading my thoughts, he said, "I'm sure you look great Lizzy."

I sighed. "Okay, close your eyes until I come out."He rolled his eyes and shook his head, but he obliging put both hands over his eyes, allowing me to come out unseen. I bit my lip as I breathed deeply and opened the door all the way so I was standing in the middle of the doorway. "You can open them now."

He took his hands off his eyes, staring at me with eyes a little wider than normal. I spun a little, waiting for a reaction, but all he could do was start laughing as he shook his head. "I lied, you look better than great. You are hands down the most beautiful girl on this island."

I blushed as I walked forward to take the flower from him that I was supposed to pin on his lapel. "I think people usually have cameras to take pictures to remember these sorts of things, but I'm sadly not that fancy," I laughed as I fumbled with the pin, looking down so he couldn't see me blush incredibly.

He grabbed my hands, making me look up in confusion. He set them down at my sides and figured out what to do with the pin with ease then grabbed my wrist and slid my corsage-thing on. "I never much was into fancy happenings myself," he shrugged with a smile.

"Well that's, good, especially since you are with me so much," I said, realizing how he could kind of misinterpret that. He however, didn't seem to notice (men, honestly), and instead turned off my light, closing the door behind me.

"Shall we be off then?" he said, offering his arm like a good gentleman. I grinned and grabbed the arm wholeheartedly. We walked down the road for a little while, talking, when he suddenly stopped us.

"Are we already here?" I asked, a little confused by the lack of food-age, since we were going to our pre-dance dinner (a must on every cliché school dance date).

He pulled out a blindfold with an impish grin. "Not quite. It's going to be a surprise though, so it is very necessary for you to put this on."

I gave him a skeptical look, but still took the blindfold and put it on carefully to try and not mess up my hair. He took my hand and started leading me along as I held my other arm out; just to warn me in case I ran into a tree or some other hazardous thing. After what seemed like an incredibly long time, we finally stopped at the sound of rushing water. This was not new for me though since I lived by the river. I however was still very wary.

"Can I take this blasted thing off yet?" I laughed, wanting my sight back immediately.

"Yes," he laughed too as I reached up to untie the blindfold. "No, no I'll do it, its okay." He met my hands and untied it with ease, his fingers lingering a little on mine, making my skin tingle to the touch. _It's going to be one of those nights_ I thought before I saw the scene in front of me which made me gasp.

We were at Caramel Falls area, at the actual waterfall (hence the rushing water), right when it was dusk, at the blue hour. There were a couple of dragonflies and butterflies flying around, as well as a few scattered lily pads in the water. It was visibly very beautiful. The thing that made me gasp however was a small table set for two with candlesticks in the middle, giving it a romantic glow. It was ornately laid, with a fancy purple tablecloth and expensive looking china dining ware. I sniffed the air, my senses getting met with the smell of something exceptionally delicious smelling.

James walked up and pulled out a chair. Blushing, I sat down as he pushed it in. He pulled a basket out from underneath the table and opened it, revealing a container of some pasta looking thing, a small bread basket, and what appeared to be Jell-O. I laughed a little as he poured me water from a pitcher and served me some tortellini.

"What?" he asked, concerned a little (no doubt) by my reaction. I shook my head with a smile.

"Did you know that you are just way too perfect?" I said, blushing as he sat down as I hadn't realized how personal the statement was when I said it, as usual. I bit into the pasta to ease my embarrassment and realized they were stuffed with tomatoes, the same exact dish I had had with Gill once.

"I'm not really," he shrugged, but I could tell he was still pleased. I smiled, though not all the way engrossed in what he was saying, my mind still preoccupied with thoughts about Gill, which was once again very weird. He must have noticed my expression as he gave me a strange look. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head both to clear my thoughts and symbolize it was not anything. "Nothing, nothing at all," I said with a smile, though not exactly sure how accurate my words were.

* * *

(Luke)

I had always hated school dances. I hated the crappy punch, the forced conformity of collared shirts, and the main fact that the dance dress code did not allow my bandana, as it was apparently not dressy enough. I didn't like the way my hair felt so exposed, and especially not the way everyone stayed at opposite ends of the room. I just didn't like them. Period.

I took a swig of the crappy punch, which had been made slight less crappy this year but still sucked pretty bad. Even though I disliked dances, this had been the first dance I had gone to without a date and I wasn't used to this feeling of being alone. It made me feel unloved, even to a point of me feeling like a loser. I wondered how geeks did it, how they handled being dateless. I didn't think about it too much though because right now, the topic of dates was a touchy subject for me.

See, I was originally going to have a date. I had thought it was my exact luck when the new girl moved in, but I hadn't expected to be _that_ lucky. Lizzy was such a chill girl, I knew I could ask and take her and she wouldn't require high maintenance care all night, like some of the other girls did (I hated when guys were whipped by their girls, holding their purses, posing for pictures, and other such manly degrading things). Of course, it didn't hurt she was pretty hot and overall could be pretty funny as well. But then of course, Prince Charming had to walk in, steal her, and leave me, dateless. I probably could have still found a date, but after that it was just way too much effort, and I really just didn't want to think about it at all. I just couldn't tell who was madder about the whole thing, me or Gill.

_Speaking of Gill_, I thought, _I wonder if he's here yet_. I scanned the room but was unsuccessful in finding a head of annoying blonde hair. Bummer. I really had been looking forward to messing with him. Everyone always said I was way too mean to him, but I personally thought we gave each other an equal amount of hating, which leveled it all out. There may have even been a time in our childhood when Gill and I had been nice to each other. But, once middle school hit, something changed. I got cool while he got, nerdy.

I breathed deeply and ran a hand through my hair. Some days, when I looked back at how mean Owen and I had been to Gill over the years, I actually did feel really bad. Putting mud in his locker, hiding his clothes during PE, even flirting with Luna… They all had seemed such good ideas at the time, but now, in my older age, I wasn't real sure. It was here, as I stood reminiscing about the good old times, when I was suddenly met with the strong scent of lilies

"Having a fun night?" Selena asked as she batted her eyelids at me, pouring herself a glass of punch.

"Yeah, loads of fun," I grumbled, rolling my eyes as Sir Pompous himself strutted in through the door across the room with a surprisingly pretty Luna by his side.

"You don't sound as if you're enjoying yourself very much."

"You don't miss a thing, do you Selena?" Usually I did love flirting with her; just for some reason tonight, I wasn't in the best mood to flirt, which was extremely weird.

She put her hand on my arm like she usually did. "What's wrong Luke? You don't seem as hyper as usual. Was it that one farmer girl, Livie, Libby?"

"Lizzy," I corrected, "and no. I just, don't care right now. Does that even make sense?"

"It makes perfect sense," she smiled as I fully noticed her for the first time tonight. Instead of her traditional dance outfit she wore, she was in a pale yellow dress with her hair down. It looked, nice on her. I was staring at her when a slower song came on from the up tempoed one before it.

"Luke, dance with me," she said, giving me her hand which I took wholeheartedly. I led her to the dance floor right in the middle, as she threw her arms around my neck, making my ears grow hot, but I ignored them.

"I feel like this dance has suddenly turned around," I winked at her, my mood greatly improved since we had first started talking. Selena smiled at me as we swayed to the music.

"I suppose it has then," she said as we turned around and around, not paying attention to the world around us.

* * *

(Candace)

I gulped as I looked at the decorations that lined the walls and tables at the dance. Our group of Gill and Luna, Julius and Maya, and Chase and me had just had dinner at the Sundae Inn, which had of course been quite delicious since Chase had done all the cooking. Just thinking about Chase made my ears go red and butterflies fly in my stomach. I tried to make sure he didn't notice as he took my coat once we got to one of the tables on the side of the gym, but I couldn't for sure tell. Though it was spring, I still tended to get cold easily and had made sure that a small shrug could work into my outfit.

I wasn't vain and didn't often boast of my accomplishments, but if I could say so myself, I was quite pleased with how my outfit had turned out. I had thought red pansies would be pretty, as I did like the color red and pansies were somewhat my kind of favorite flower. Of course, I had started working on my dress a couple months before, as I knew Luna would need my help making hers at the last minute (as she usually did). Thus, much time was put into it, allowing it to be one of my finer creations.

It had wide red stripes on both sides attached to a ribbon of red that went around at the top. The dress itself was white, except for the bottom. At the bottom, red patterns swirled itself through the white, all done by hand. I had spent several days working on stitching the different patterns of the pansies throughout the bottom, which I thought gave a nice little effect. I had also put a red sash around the middle that tied in the back, giving it a slightly girly look. Luna had helped me curl my hair, which was held back by a headband of the same red as the sash. I had also stitched a red cardigan to go with it, but didn't have it on anymore due to Chase taking it off.

I blushed again at the little memory. I had liked Chase for two years now, and never once thought I'd attend any dance with him, especially since I would never pluck up enough courage to ask him myself. My whole thoughts of the matter changed though one day when I got home from school where in my room, multicolored yarns lay on my bed, spelling out _'Dance?'_ I had been super shocked, expecting it to be Julius or someone else that was trying to make fun of me by giving false affections, but it was instead Chase, my dream gentleman.

"Candace, do you want a drink?" I blinked and looked to Chase, who was smiling at _me_ of all people. I kept wondering when I would blink and find myself out of this dream, but there he was, time and time again being just plainly wonderful.

"Well, um, su-sure. I'd lo-lo-love that," I choked out, expecting him to laugh or make a witty comment about my stutter, but he just continued smiling and went to the food table to retrieve beverages. I stood there, watching him, when I heard a cough from behind me. I spun around to see Julius there, surveying me with an eye.

"Well well, it looks as though someone has a bit of a crush blossoming," he snapped with a little more force than I thought would be necessary to state that. I blushed again.

"No, no. We-we're just fri-friends," I stumbled, looking down at the ground so as not to see his sneering face. I looked up just as he walked closer so that he was right next to me.

"When are you going to realize that you don't belong with him? At least, not the same way you do with me," he asked as he grabbed my hands and looked at me almost pleadingly. I gasped at the physical contact and the harshness of his words. I dropped his hands and started walking back.

"You, you don't re-realize what you're sa-saying," I managed out as I almost ran into Chase, who was graciously bringing back punch. I turned around again to look at him as he looked Julius up and down.

"What's going on?" he demanded, though not looking at me.

"Its, its no-nothing," I shook my head as he handed me one of the punch glasses. I took a sip as Julius and Chase glared at each other. We stood there for a couple of minutes as I noticed a slower song come on. I held onto my cup, not hoping to dream anything, when Chase finally stopped glaring at Julius and walked over to me.

"Candace, would you care to dance?" he asked, offering his hand like the true gentleman he was. I blushed and set my cup down, realizing Julius was also looking at us. Chase led us to the middle of the floor, where I noticed Luke and Selena looking happily at each other, making me smile a little as Chase spun me.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself," he smiled as he pulled me back in from the spin. I laughed a little and blushed again.

"It is a, a re-really lovely night," I nodded as his eyes twinkled. As we continued dancing, I saw Julius and Maya dancing right next to us, both glaring at us. I looked down in shame, feeling bad I had somehow made them both mad.

"What's wrong?" Chase asked, a little concerned it seemed. But of course, that couldn't be a possibility. He could never get truly concerned about me.

"I don't think Maya likes me very much," I whispered, afraid she'd hear me. He looked over to them and sighed.

"It's not you. Well, it is kind of you, but not in that way!" he corrected himself as I continued looking ashamed. "She's just jealous I'd rather pick you over her."

"But, but why?" I asked, looking up to his kind brown eyes. He smiled down at me, making my heart flutter a little in my chest.

"Because I like you Candace. I like you a, a lot. You're such a nice, talented, beautiful girl and," he stopped and looked down abashedly. I couldn't believe my ears. He liked me._ Me_. Shy, stumbling Candace over the sociable and loud-spoken Maya. I wanted to pinch myself, to make sure this was all real, but I felt he'd look at me very strangely if I did. He continued looking at me, and I realized he was waiting for me to say something.

"It's, um, alright if you don't feel the same though," he said, looking down again. I bit my lip, not sure how the perfect response would be. In movies, brave girls would do something physical, like a kiss, but I wasn't brave at all. Instead, I let go of his hands, got on my tiptoes, and hugged him. Luckily, this seemed to be an acceptable answer as I could feel him grin and he started spinning me around.

"I'm just so glad I finally told you," he laughed as he set me down. I nodded, smiling, as he took my hand to go sit down and talk. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Julius and Maya stop dancing to look at us (probably glaring again), but I didn't care. I had, Chase. He liked me. I liked him. And in my eyes, this could not get any better.

* * *

(Phoebe)

I poured some more punch for me as I looked around the room. Plenty of happy couple were meandering all over the place, but none held for me what I was looking for. Being a miner, I usually was very good at spotting things that I needed to, though I was slightly less good at spotting things currently without my usual glasses. They were tucked in my bag so that perhaps someone of importance would notice, but that was way beside the point. I cleared my throat and stood there watching everyone, silently thanking my lovely gift.

It was in fact, this skill that allowed me to see everyone and everything else that usually, I didn't really wish to see. As it was a slow song, I was _fortunate_ enough to see all the happy couples make their way to the dance floor, while I got to stand on the side, very much by myself. That was, real fun. I sighed, smoothing down my dress as I stared at everyone.

Luke and Selena. They really seemed to be enjoying themselves, a usual activity for them. Chase and Candace. A very interesting pair, though I didn't judge. They looked very happy, though the same couldn't be said about Julius and Maya, who were both glaring at them so hard I could feel the force from the other side of the room. Obviously some tension there. I continued looking and spotted Kathy and Owen, who were both laughing incredibly, no doubt something witty either of them had said. I had, for some reason, tried joining them for dinner before the dance, and had felt so third-wheel-ish it wasn't even funny. They were happy though, so I guess as a friend, I couldn't ask more for either of them.

As I glanced around the room again, I saw Gill and Luna, which somewhat sparked my interest. At least, I was pretty sure it was Gill and Luna, as the whole lack of glasses thing impaired my perception greatly. I was surprised they had still come together, since I knew from what Lizzy had told me, he at least had an interest in her. Poor Luna seemed to be oblivious to that, or at least, she acted like she was oblivious to it. They looked, pleasant enough dancing, but I could tell no real spark existed between them, making me feel slightly bad for Luna. I, like many before me in time, knew exactly how it was to deal with unrequited love. I sighed, thinking of _him,_ when I noticed a change in the couple I was observing. I turned my attentions to the door, and had to stop myself from laughing.

Lizzy had just walked in, laughing, with James, their arms linked together. I saw her gaze at the decorations, oblivious to the scene she was causing. Gill had almost broken away from Luna to probably say hi to Lizzy, not realizing the serious drama he was about to start. Luna of course, looked furious and seemed to be getting angry at him, which somewhat amused me.

"Having fun?" a familiar, deep manly voice asked. I turned to the sound of the voice and jumped.

"Oh my goodness, Calvin! I didn't even, um, notice you there," I said, trying my best to fix my hair, smooth my dress, anything to fix my appearance. He laughed deeply as I tried not blushing a lot in front of him.

"Sneaky does happen to be my best style," he smiled pleasantly as I nodded geekily, wishing I could be witty, charming, pretty, nice, polite, funny. Just, anything. Disappearing would even have worked.

"And that is why you're such a good miner," I smiled at him and almost froze, hoping he wouldn't think my comment was creepy, even if it was completely and utterly true.

I had met Calvin when he first moved to the island. I was in Ganache Mines, mining to try and look for some silver, when I tripped on something, spraining my ankle. I thought I was done for, when here came this super attractive male miner who stopped immediately when seeing me. He had asked me something I laughed at immediately, making me know I was gone. I suppose some call it love at first sight. I just knew right then and there that he was the only guy I could ever think of, and he was truly the only guy for me.

Of course, he was a year older than me. And was super popular and involved. Not to mention, he was awfully independent and would never need someone as weird as me. I sighed and stopped again, totally forgetting he was right there.

"You're having that bad of a time? You're date is doing a pretty sucky job," he laughed as I shook my head.

"Oh. I don't, um, have a date."

"I find that hard to believe." I looked up at his eyes, to see if he was joking, but he was looking at me very seriously.

"I'm pretty sure guys at this school have no idea I've gone to school with them for all their lives, much less would they think of me as a potential person to come with tonight, honestly," I said, trying very hard to not look at him.

He shrugged. "Obviously guys are stupid then. It's okay though, I don't have a date either."

I turned and gaped at him. "Now that I don't believe. You're way too cool to be, date-less."

He laughed with amusement. "Thanks for that. No, but cool factor or not, I don't have a date. I didn't think anyone would have wanted to come with me, so I just didn't ask."

I looked down as my mind screamed _I'd have come with you! "_I'm sure the right girl is out there for you, you just may not know it," I smiled at him, realizing how absolutely stupid I must sound.

"I'm sure she is," he said, looking broodingly off at the wall. He turned to me suddenly, a weird expression on his face. "I like the brooch you're wearing."

I blushed. "Oh, thanks. I made it with that silver you gave me and an old ruby I had lying around."

"I'm glad you liked the silver," Calvin grinned as he ran a hand through his hair, flexing his arms in the process. I tried not looking at them, but I was only human-not to mention a girl-, and just couldn't ignore the amazing wonders mining did to his perfectly shaped pectorals.

I cleared my throat to try and focus my mind back, though I was blushing as I smiled at him nervously. "Of course I did! I appreciate all the things you give me." I stopped again before he could realize how devoted and pathetic I was. I looked down and smoothed my dress out, trying to figure out a way in which I could appear less awkward.

"Where are your glasses?" he asked suddenly as I looked up, surprised he had even noticed they were gone.

"Oh, I just, didn't want to wear them in an attempt to look nice for tonight," I mumbled as I looked the other way, noticing a fuming Luna with Gill and Lizzy.

"Well, I like them. You always look nice in them," he said. I turned back to him, but he just stood there, smiling kindly at me. I blushed, and took them out of my purse I was holding. Whenever I wasn't wearing my glasses, I always made sure I had them, just in case I change my mind. Or, just in case (in this instance), an attractive male changed my mind for me. I slipped them on, enjoying the fact that everything was clear again. I turned to him.

"This better? I look more like regular everyday Phoebe now?" I laughed at him as he smiled at me.

"Perfect," he stated, making me blush and wonder what exactly was going on in his mind.

* * *

(Luna)

"Gill. Gill. _Gill!_ Please, some focus this way," I snapped, a little more harshly than anticipated. He blinked a couple times as we spun around to the slow tune.

"Sorry. You were saying?" he asked a little dazed. I rolled my eyes at him.

"I wasn't saying anything. You just, aren't even paying attention to me. Like right now," I said as he stared blankly at me. "You know, she's not even here yet and you still could care less about me."

"That's nice," he said, continuing to not pay any notice to me at all. I bit my lip to stop from screaming at him when I observed a change in his posture. I tried turning us around so I could see what he was looking at, but he wouldn't let me. Luckily the song ended, allowing us to break apart and look at the couple that just walked in, even though I was pretty sure I already knew exactly who it was.

Lizzy's perfectly shaped arms were linked with James, both talking and laughing as they arrived. They looked, so happy I almost wanted to be sick. Her dress was awfully plain and I of course could never be caught dead in it. Her hair was also messily done which looked very tacky, even if the messy look somewhat worked for her. She may have even managed to look pretty in anyone else's mind, but I personally thought she looked dreadful. I turned to Gill to tell him some mean comment about her, but he instead was staring at her, dazed. I groaned.

Growing up, I knew that Gill always liked me. He consistently would pull up a chair next to him in class, call on me when I was sick, wait for me to walk home, sit with Candace and me at lunch, and just so many other things that I just knew he was attracted to me. Before though, I couldn't care less about him. I mean, yes he was cute and successful and all, but realistically he wasn't my dream guy.

Then of course, _she _showed up. At first, I knew Gill could care less about her. We even had lengthy chats all about Lizzy's plainness, her lack of fashion, lack of good standings in society, and just other unattractive qualities she seemed to possess. From the start, I could see through her fake happiness and nice act she gave everyone else. I mean, no one could be that perpetually happy. It was ridiculous. For a while, Gill had agreed with me wholeheartedly, and I had even grown to enjoy the chats we had mocking her. Once he had asked me to this dance though, I started seeing him differently. After all, he was going to be the future mayor. That had to stand for something.

The last couple weeks had been different though. He had stopped waiting for me and Candace after school. He stopped caring about my opinions. He even stopped wearing the same vest I had once complimented him on. He was different, and I knew it was all _her_ fault.

"Oh hi Gill, hi Luna," Lizzy laughed as she came up to us both, James in tow. He smiled at us both, though I noticed his gaze linger on my poor Gill.

"Hello," Gill said, talking mainly to Lizzy, which I and James both noticed.

"Fun dance so far?" she asked as she took her arm out of James to push her bangs behind her ears.

"It's been a blast," I laughed as I put my hand on Gill's arm. He turned to look at me strangely, but luckily didn't say anything. Score one for me. I turned to look at Lizzy smugly.

"That's good to know, though a little sorry we got here so late," James said with a hearty laugh. Lizzy looked up to him and blushed, which instantly alerted my curiosity.

"I suppose you two had a good dinner then?" Gill asked suspiciously, which normally would infuriate me, but even I couldn't blame him. They had both seemed to enjoy dinner a little too much, which was something I was dying to know about personally.

"Oh it was just incredible!" Lizzy said as she described in more detail what James had done. He interjected in a couple parts, filling in the details she may have missed. They certainly did look and work well together, and the way she would look at James, you could tell she was head over heels for him. Why then did Gill want taken her instead of freely available me?

"That certainly is, romantic," Gill admitted begrudgingly as Lizzy suddenly gasped.

"Oh I forgot Gill, I still have to give you your movie back," she laughed as my eyes narrowed.

"Yes, we greatly enjoyed all the entertainment this week. I don't know what we would've done without your _friendly _generosity," James enunciated carefully, smiling at Gill with a considerable amount of force. Now I knew I was out of the loop about something, which I was not okay with.

"It was my pleasure," Gill bowed a little, his lips pressed tightly together. I was about to say something for someone to clue me in, when the music suddenly cut off.

"Okay everyone, this next song, everyone grab a different person than who you came with, and dance your hearts out with them," the DJ commanded via the influence of speakers.

I turned to Gill, who was staring earnestly at Lizzy. "Just, go," I said with frustration to him, who looked confused of all things. He looked back at me, but still went through with asking her to dance. I stood there, a little infuriated at him, but mostly annoyed with these new painful feelings for him.

* * *

(James)

I wanted to tell Lizzy very badly to not accept that boys hand, as we hadn't even danced yet, but I didn't. It was the same feeling that I got when I wanted to grab her hand but wouldn't, or when I wanted to kiss her earlier over dinner but just couldn't. Though I was usually a pretty verbose individual, whenever it came to Lizzy, my mind always blanked out completely and I ended up sounding stupid and insipid instead of my usual suave ways.

However bad I was feeling though, it was nothing to how Gill's date was acting. She had her arms crossed against her chest and was fuming as Gill and Lizzy talked and laughed on the dance floor already. I walked up to her, trying to remember her name.

"So, do you want to dance?" I asked, trying to be a little pleasant.

She looked at them again and sighed. "Whatever." She gave me her hand to put in my extended arm. I led her out to the floor as we started dancing as I suddenly remembered this was a girl Lizzy didn't like. I smiled at the irony as her eyes narrowed.

"What were you guys talking about, about the movie?" she demanded as I tried drowning out Lizzy's familiar laugh from behind me.

"Oh, um, Lizzy was sick this whole week so one day Gill brought a bunch of things over, such as movies. It was, nice," I admitted begrudgingly. "He didn't tell you?"

"No," she said, pressing her lips tightly together. We continued spinning awkwardly until she broke the silence.

"You like her."

"Yes," I said, not really caring about her opinion and not seeing the relevance of her statement.

"Have you kissed her yet?" she demanded.

"That, that is none of your business," I sputtered as I tried not looking at her squarely in the eye.

"So you haven't yet," she said smugly. I didn't answer her, even though it was true.

"You know, if it was me, I'd do it later tonight, outside by the flower arches. It'd be awfully romantic," she smiled sweetly as I mused out the idea in my mind, deciding it to be an actually good one.

"You know, you're quite a smart girl. No wonder Gill and you are so good together," I smiled as her lips tightened again.

"We're, we are not together," she corrected.

"My mistake." More silence.

"He likes her you know," she said softly. I looked down at her sad face and glanced up, as we happened to be in a position so I could see the other pair. Lizzy was talking to him as Gill stared at her, a love-struck smile plastered on his face.

"Yes. Yes, I know."

* * *

(Gill)

"Well this is a kind of weird thing. Does this usually happen during school dances?" Lizzy asked me with a laugh as I spun her around. I could see Luna getting asked by James as I looked back down to her.

"Yeah, no matter what DJ we have, they always request a 'different partner' dance. I think it 's to encourage dance diversity or something, I don't know," I shrugged. Or at least, I somewhat shrugged, as her arm was on my shoulder. Most girls just threw their arms around guys' necks for a slow dance, but Lizzy had immediately put her hands on my shoulder and in my other hand properly, which for some reason made me incomprehensively proud.

"Huh, that's interesting. Oh look, James and Luna are dancing," she motioned over to the pair of them. "They don't look very happy," she laughed, no doubt amused by both of their stiff expression.

"Well, I don't think they know each other very well. I probably wouldn't want to really dance with someone either if I didn't really know them that well. It'd just be, weird," I mused aloud as she pondered what I'd said.

"I suppose. It's an easy way to get to meet new people though, certainly."

"What would you even talk about?" I asked, confused on how dancing with a stranger could ever end up successfully.

"I don't know, normal things, like interests, movies, hobbies, books, music, what color their tooth brush is… Anything," she laughed.

I gave her a strange look. "I think asking the color of their tooth brush is kind of creepy."

"Well, you are a shady individual."

"I had forgotten completely about that," I laughed as she looked at me in amusement. "That was when we first met, those first couple days."

"You got so mad at me for the oddest of reasons," she laughed with me as I continued thinking about it. That was a time when I had thought she was such a peculiar person who I would never wish to affiliate with. And now, here I was, wishing to be with her more. But of course, in the friendly, non-romantic way, as I had already established before mentally, I didn't like her.

"I think I just didn't know how to act with you because no one on the island is like you." And no one ever will be…. _Shut up_ I told my mind with annoyance.

"Or you're just a perpetual grumpy gills," she laughed again, her hair bouncing as she lightly tossed her head back. Though I usually didn't like the messy style girls did these days, for some odd reason, it worked incredibly for her. Not of course that I cared about these things.

"I'm not a fish," I frowned as she just smiled at me. "Anyways, are you going to the flower festival tomorrow?"

She shrugged. "Probably, unless James doesn't want to go."

I grew a little irritated. "You can go without him you know. He's not needed necessarily for you to go."

She looked at me strange. "What are you getting at Gill? I don't know what's suddenly gotten into you."

"Nothing, I don't either," I mumbled. The sudden outbreak was a little random, even for me, and I had no idea why I was so mad about something James related.

"You know, you can come with me, if you want to, or if James isn't fancying a day out," I suggested, trying not to look at her, but failing when I sneaked a sly look to the side.

"Like a date?" her eyes twinkled with amusement.

"No, just as friends," I stumbled out as she laughed.

"I know, I was just teasing you Gill. I know we're just friends," she smiled as I tried to smile back.

I was going to say something of substance, something of great wit, when the fan blew a strange way, giving me the nice scent of lavender. I breathed it in, overtaken by the lovely smell. I looked down at Lizzy, to wonder if she knew where the scent came from, when I just laughed.

"What's so funny?" she asked, confused.

"You, you're wearing lavender as your flower," I laughed a little bitterly at the irony. I had always loved lavender, and now, it on her, seemed to just be icing on the cake.

"Yeah, I love lavender and already had the purple dress," her voice trailed off as the song chose to end at a very inconvenient time. James came up, but I for some reason was unwilling to let her go.

"Lizzy, would you like some punch?" he asked her as I reluctantly let go of her hands. She turned to James with a smile.

"Sure, why not," she shrugged as he led her away, across the room. Her lavender scent seemed to linger on me, leaving me in a slight trance, which is why all I could do was stand there looking after her. I could tell more than one person was looking at me, but I didn't care. For once in my life, I was so confused about the emotions I was feeling. Such as staring after James and Lizzy. Who did he think he was, taking her away like he owned her or something, right after we had just, talked? It was amazing to me that we had spent an entire song just going on about random things, but was it wrong that it had felt so right? And if it was right, then James had no reason to take her away. This thought process led me to feeling a little angry and hurt and sad and just… everything all at once. Was this, could this be jealousy?

I couldn't be jealous, because jealousy insinuated feelings; otherwise there was no reason to be jealous. So if I was jealous then I must…

Like Lizzy.

Huh. I didn't see that one coming. It was if I had been stricken by a strong blow, except mentally and emotionally instead of physically. I turned to sit back down at a nearby table to try and clear my thoughts, taking a drink from the nearest cup I could find.

I liked her. I liked Lizzy. I had liked Lizzy for a while and had just not wanted to admit it. It made so much sense though. The worry about her opinion and well being, the anger I got when she was with James, why I no longer really cared about Luna, how my day brightened just by her smiling at me, and just everything. It was as if all memories associated with her collided together in my mind, leaving me happy but crestfallen at the same time. She probably knew and didn't reciprocate the feelings, for how could she. I sat there, wallowing in my thoughts when Luna sat next to me.

"You look ill, did something happen?" she asked with bitter amusement.

"No, nothing at all," I mumbled, not wanting to talk to her in the time of my deep revelation.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes and stood. "Oh, but if you were wondering, Lizzy was looking for you. She said she wanted to talk to you about something. It sounded kind of important…" She trailed off and shrugged. "She's outside, over by the arches."

I stood at once and looked over to her. "I'll go see what she wants, it could end up being imperative," I said as she nodded off to me with surprising amusement, but I could care less. This could be it, a very important moment that could have the potential to alter something between me and Lizzy. _Lizzy and I_ my mind corrected itself with surprisingly giddy joy. I walked slowly, working up to an energetic walk.

I made my way outside and walked straight against the cobblestone wall. Luna had said Lizzy was at the flower arches, which were around the corner. I stopped before it to take a few reassuring breaths, but grinned.

If this worked out right, if this was her telling me she liked me after all, I could maybe have my first girlfriend. I, she… I liked her. Thinking about it more could probably never desensitize me to the happiness the thoughts gave me. I was just so glad to finally realize what had happened, to finally get to be happy about life again. Or at least, to be happy for the first time in my life. Emotions overcame me so much I just wanted to go on the rooftop and scream my joy, which was, I supposed the high of young love. Huh, love. I bit my lip to try and hide my smile as I gathered myself as much as I could. I walked around the corner, though, and froze.

Lizzy was there all right. She just happened to be there with arms thrown around James, kissing him with so much passion my heart sunk. I gasped silently and retracted my steps so I wouldn't see them anymore. I leaned my back against the cobblestone wall, surprised, jealous, and most of all, heartbroken about the horrendous scene I had just witnessed.


	11. Chapter 11: Festival Suprises

_Hello everyone! Sorry for the chapter wait, I know that's not usually what I do. However, I recently started another story I had to get established, shoving this one aside for two weeks. If anyone enjoys Legend of Zelda, they should totally check it out! Anywho, hope everyone enjoys this even though it's more of a filler chapter for what will come in a few chapters away. However, there is plenty of GillXLizzy fluff in this, which should appease everyone (I hope). Continue enjoying, supporting, reviewing, criticisizing, the whole shebang!_

_A/N: The end of the chapter may seem a little choppy and may possibly contain some errors. I was very intent on getting this chapter out before I went to bed so I edited everything in my groggy state of mind. I think I caught everything, it's just not as polished as usual, sorry!_

_And also, big shout out to **sushi4427**. Because well, I can. And they did the same for me! If you were wanting a little bit of laughs, check out their story "Slacker." It's some more Gill fandom and it's pretty funny. For them, I made sure to especially check out my commas so hope that it makes a difference!  
_

_Enjoy everyone!_

* * *

"Ow," I groaned as I rubbed my head where I had just hit it on my nightstand. Usually I wasn't a very active sleeper, but after last night I just couldn't fall asleep and had spent the whole night tossing and turning. This seemed to carry into this morning when I hit my head, and since these things weren't the norm for me, I didn't really know how to respond to the situation except with an 'ow.' Of course, as of late, many things that typically didn't happen to me had been occurring.

I sat up and stretched my arms as I looked at the alarm clock. **8:13**. Good. I knew I had overslept quite a bit than normal, but I was glad it was still a fairly good time so that I had could still take care of my crops and do other things I needed to today. It was the flower festival after all and apparently that was a big deal around here. I went to the restroom to wash my face so that I didn't look completely gross while I started to try and comprehend all that had gone on last night.

"_James, where on Earth are we going?" I asked with a laugh as he took my hand, swerving me from the punch bowl like he had said, and instead started to lead me down some other hallway that was lined with cobblestones. I grinned at James as I put my hand on the walls, tracing patterns as we walked by._

"_You'll see, I think we're almost there," he grinned at me as we turned a corner in the hallway. This led to a beautiful patio area of scattered tables and chairs with twinkling lights that winked coyly at me, as if they seemed to know something I didn't. Several arches of flowers and ivy were all around the area, giving a very beautiful and romantic aura to the area._

"_I'm surprised there isn't anyone out here, this is stunning," I said to James as I went and ran my hand through a fountain a little ways off. Yes, there was even a fountain. Waffle Town may have been homely and a little on the poor side, but boy did they know how to decorate for things._

"_Well I for one am sure glad there aren't," he said, pulling me out of my thought trance. I turned back to him as he stared at me with an odd expression before turning his gaze so that he was looking into far off scenery. I frowned as I walked up to him, putting my hand on his shoulder._

"_What is it, is anything wrong?" I asked, a little concerned by his expression. He continued staring off and turned back to me._

"_Lizzy, you know there was a reason I asked you to this, don't you?" he said as my heart stopped a little. He was looking at me as I had never been looked at before, causing a tighten of my stomach and the sudden inability to breath._

"_Well, yes. We're friends after all, and you probably wanted a date you could get along with," I stammered, trying not to think of what he was insinuating. I knew exactly what he was trying to say, but for some reason I didn't really want him to say it. At the same time I wanted him to say it, wanted to hear how much he cared for me. I wanted passion, I wanted romance, I wanted it all. _

_Before I could think of anything else, he had cupped my face to his so that he was kissing a very startled me. I closed my eyes, letting all my emotions and thoughts go, allowing the moment to get and overcome me. My arms winded around his head, my hands twisting themselves into his curly hair. I forgot about everyone and everything and just, kissed him. We broke apart for a second, breathing in each other's arms as we both looked at each other with a grin. _

"_I wanted more than a date. I wanted, I want you," he whispered to me as I looked down shyly. I knew I shouldn't have done anything more, especially since I wasn't so sure what my current feelings were about him, but I threw my arms around his neck again and went on my tip-toes so that I was up to his ears._

"_I just want you too," I said, caught up in the moment a little so that I didn't fully think of the consequences that came from such a bold statement. I heard him gasp a little, but then he gave a hearty laugh as he swung me around romantically, like Christine and Raul on the top of the roof in "Phantom of the Opera." It was that much of a movie moment. When he set me down I stumbled, nearly falling back into his arms._

"_Sorry," I said quickly, used to apologizing for most things. He helped me back up and looked at me strangely._

"_Why are you apologizing? We're together now, you don't have to apologize for falling of all things," he laughed a little as he started playing with my hair strands in my front._

_My mouth opened several times as I thought of what to say. "I didn't know we were official now." He hadn't asked me to be official, and it bothered me a little that he hadn't done it properly like guys are supposed to._

"_Of course we are. What would you call this after all?" he asked cheekily as he reached down and kissed me again. I kissed him back of course, though this one lacked a little what the first one had. There were no fireworks (though there hadn't been for the first one either), no passion, and I was slightly not as much into the kiss as I probably should have been. _

_James, however, once we finished with it looked at me happily, oblivious to my new inner turmoil. He offered his arm and motioned back to the dance. "We should probably return. Don't' want to be the talk of the school or anything."_

"_Oh, right," I said, a little distracted by what I was thinking and feeling. I had never kissed a guy and never had a 'boyfriend' before, but all in all I personally felt like it should have been a little different. Maybe if I had a nice glow or eternal butterflies in my stomach I'd be good. Something at least. But as I walked back to the dance, all I was feeling was the contact of James' arm in mine and the stares of the whole school as we walked back into the gym. And to me, the feeling alone was just not enough._

I frowned as I dried off my face from its washing. Last night had just been so strange and now, as a result, I was no longer single, which was in fact the weirdest thing that could have possibly happened. As I fumbled through my house to find my glasses (as I had idiotically forgotten to grab them earlier), I thought more and more about the dance. Other couples had also seemed to get along well, including a very cute Kathy and Owen and Chase and Candace (I think that was her name). I was also very pleased to see Phoebe go and talk to Calvin, something I knew she had been dying to do.

"Ah-hah!" I said as I finally reached my bed, found my nightstand and my glasses on top of it. I slipped them on, grateful for sight again as I continued to do other morning related things. As I went out of my room and into my kitchen, I grabbed a bowl of cereal and milk, sat down, and ate as I looked at my phone, noticing I had a message from James.

**6:23 "Hey hun sorry, can't do flower festival today. I'm sick. Might be your fault haha jk. Hope to see you soon, have fun."**

I frowned as I sent a simple but sweet reply back. Pushing my bangs back, I ate a spoonful of my cereal, wondering what I was going to do about today. Currently, the one person who I would have gone with to this festival was unable to attend which actually may have been my fault, making me feel worse. As I started stirring my cereal to try and think who I could ask to come with me, I heard a knock on the door.

"Hm, wonder who that is?" I mused aloud as I stood, thinking it may be beneficial to me to ask Kathy if she wanted to hang out today. Vowing I would probably do that, I opened the door to surprise number one of the day.

"Is this a bad time?" Gill asked, looking at me with confusion and a little horror. I looked down to my super baggy t-shirt and unattractive sleep shorts that had little trees on them. Combined with my dorky glasses and messy hair, I must have looked like a real looker.

"No no, it's fine! Please, come in," I said awkwardly, showing him into my house just as I realized how absolutely messy it was. After I had gotten over my illness I had been so preoccupied with getting ready for the dance, not making my house presentable for someone as esteemed as Gill to look at. He sat down on my couch as I threw several tissues into a bowl lying around and kicked one of my sweaters behind the couch. I bustled back and forth from the kitchen to my living room as Gill sat there, watching me.

"You know, you don't have to do all this just because-"he began as I grabbed one of my water bottles off the ground close to where he was sitting.

"No, it's totally fine. I've been meaning to clean and it really is a big mess," I cut him off with a grin. "Don't feel bad just because I'm a slob."

"I think you're a little justified, you just had a bad cold."

"I did, but…." My voice trailed off as a sudden thought entered my head. "Hey, you're not sick are you? From the exposure to me or anything like that?"

"I don't think exposure to you could ever make me sick," he said as he froze and looked at me with horror. "I mean, your being sick could not in turn make me sick. I'm as fit as a harmonica."

"I think you mean whistle," I laughed as I sat down next to him, deeming my house decently presentable.

"You look tired," Gill said as I pushed up my glasses. I looked at him as he stared at me with a little more concern than usual. I didn't know what it was, but concerned Gill was a little more foreign than angry pompous Gill. Something about the last two weeks had changed in him so he actually cared about my well-being and for the life of me, I couldn't identify what it was.

"It's probably from last night, that was a crazy dance," I laughed at him, trying to gauge his expression to see how his night was with Luna. True to my prediction, his eyes widened a little as he looked down, playing with something in his hand that I couldn't see. He finally looked up at me with a look I couldn't quite describe.

"I'm sure that you indeed had much fun," he said, looking away at something else in my house. I shrugged as I tried to see what he was looking at.

"You know, as sickly as I am, I'm totally sure I'm way more exciting than my fridge. Did you eat?" I asked as I jumped up, remembering I had a bowl of cereal waiting for me. I went back to the table and stirred around the soggy contents. Gross.

"Yes I, um, already had food," Gill said, looking at me with a slightly amused expression. I went and threw my bowl contents away with a disgusted look as I tried to think about Gill's sudden change of behavior and what was up with him. I got out some yogurt and my fresh strawberries, making me suddenly remember my crops. Once again Gill had distracted me from what I was supposed to be doing!

"I'll um, be right back," I said as I grabbed my watering can and went outside, taking care of my produce as quickly as I could. I shipped most of what I had harvested that day, but I brought in two strawberries that wouldn't have sold very high anyways. Smiling at them in what must have looked a very stupid manner, I put them in my fridge, grabbed my yogurt and continued eating.

"Sorry about that, I totally forgot all about my main source of income," I laughed, shaking my head in reprimand of my scatter-brained ways. Gill continued watching me with amusement as I ate, making me feel semi-self conscious for some odd reason.

"Your garden is looking quite nice, I was going to tell you," he said as I finished my yogurt. I threw away the container and put my spoon in the sink.

"Oh, thanks," I said, taken aback by his compliment. Another very unusual thing for Gill. Maybe something really was up with him, and he was ill without knowing it. That must be it.

"What must be it?" he asked as I froze, realizing I had said the last statement out loud. Crap.

"Um, that you heard James was sick? And that's why you're here?" I suggested, hoping he'd buy it. He looked surprised and nodded.

"Oh right, right. Of course that's why I'm here. Because you're, _boyfriend_ is sick and you needed someone to attend the flower festival with."

I noticed him cringe as he enunciated the word 'boyfriend', piquing my curiosity. He and James had never made it a secret they disliked each other, but I didn't know how strong the loathing was until he had just cringed. Interesting. Even from the mouth of someone else, the term 'boyfriend' just seemed so strange to apply to James in correlation to myself.

"Yeah, boyfriend. That's him," I said with a little less lack luster than he was probably expecting. "I do need someone to go with though; you're so smart for thinking ahead of time like this!"

"I try," he said, looking down at the ground as he stood. "And not to be assertive, but though I don't altogether mind your attire if you were wishing to go out in public you might want something a little more, covered." He looked at me charmingly, making me wonder again where these sudden mood changes came from.

"What's wrong with my shirt? It's from New York you know," I laughed as I started to my room to change. "But I get it. You're embarrassed of me, its okay!"

I closed my door and started ruffling through my drawers for something cute as I heard a cough coming from somewhere seemingly close to my door. "I'm not ashamed of you Lizzy, not at all."

"Are you right outside my door?" I asked, a little amused beside myself.

"Um, yes. But my back is to the door don't worry. I'm not trying to be creepy I just, enjoy talking to you." The whole situation seemed to be awkward from him, making me a little curious if he was being honest instead of acting like a peeping Tom (like most teenage boys). Before I changed my shirt, I got on my stomach, looking at his feet underneath the door. True to his word, they were pointed away from the door, meaning his face was probably in the same direction. Huh, surprising.

"Why? I'm sure I'm not nearly as exciting as some other people. Like Luna. Or well, others," I said as I stood up and decided on a button down for the day. I pranced over to my closet, picking out my favorite blouse and the very necessary tank top for underneath it.

"You don't give yourself credit you know. You really are quite interesting to talk to," he said as I started fumbling with my buttons. I had almost gotten them all buttoned up as I realized I had messed up on the bottom, as usual. Groaning, I unbuttoned them all and started from the bottom to rebutton them all.

"Huh, sorry?" I asked him as I finished (successfully) buttoning them all up. Who knew shirts to be such a hassle, honestly? "I mean, pardon? I didn't catch that last part you said."

He was silent for a couple of seconds as I pulled out a pair of khaki shorts from my drawer. I frowned at the silence and went to peek my head out the door.

"Gill? Hello? Did you disappear?" I asked, looking around to see if I could find him. He was looking down at something that I couldn't quite see from my angle. It looked to be either paper or a book of some sorts. I closed my door, realizing he wouldn't answer me even if the house was on fire and I needed to shout about our safety. The somewhat short khakis were put on as I threw all my pajamas in my hamper. I sat at my vanity and applied my normal face makeup, holding my hair back with an older looking lace headband I had as I put in my contacts. Again in the past month, I decided to channel my inner 1950's fashion, trying to look polished instead of washed up, like I usually looked. Deeming myself acceptable, I nodded at my appearance and went into the living room.

"Why are you staring at your handkerchief still?" I asked as I stood next to Gill, greatly startling him. Score one for me.

"You kept it," he stated simply.

"Uh, yeah. I couldn't give it back to you; so unsanitary!" I said, giving him a strange look. "What's with you, someone is awfully pensive today, more so than your usual wise self."

"I don't know what you are talking about, I am always exactly like this," he said stiffly, setting down the cloth as he looked at me again. "You look awfully preppy today, more so than usual at least."

I chose to let that one slide. "Well you look preppy every day, it's got to be met from both ends you know," I shrugged as I looked at something he had in his other hand.

"It was open on the couch and I just picked it up," he answered quickly to my expression as I gave him an amused look and took what was in his hand.

"The great Gill, lover of all things that are more female oriented. First it was the watching of _Pride and Prejudice_, now it's the willing look at _Seventeen_, a very teenage girl based magazine. Which article…? Ah yes. 'How to get your guy to like you.'" I looked at him sternly. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Of course not, don't be preposterous," he snapped, taking the magazine back. "Do these idiotic sounding methods genuinely work on guys?"

"I don't know, you tell me. You males are what we poor girls waste our charm on after all," I said, still laughing he was reading the magazine.

"But, they sound so stupid. No sensible guy would fall for this," he said with slight contempt at the article. "Like I've said before, girls shouldn't base their beauty and self worth on what idiotic guys think. You're much smarter than this, right?"

I shrugged. "I guess. Sometimes though, it is nice for a boosting compliment from such idiotic males. Gives us all a sense of, joy and a bounce in our step. There are of course those days when you don't even care if the guy is sensible, you just want someone to care for you, no matter what he's like."

"Well whatever it was, something seemed to have worked for you," he said through a tight line in his mouth as he set the magazine down impatiently.

"Wow, stop bringing it up if it's such a big deal to you. Let's just, no more romance talking for you," I said as I suddenly remembered something. "Oh, while you're here I'll get you your movies."

"Oh, right. On the way to the festival we'll just drop them by my house since it's not too far," he agreed, though I could tell he was still thinking about romance involved things as I went around collecting various items that were Gill related. Movie here, book there and even a very random picture of a rubber duck.

"I've never seen your house so I'm kind of curious," I laughed as I surveyed the room, finding I had grabbed all the things.

"Oh, it's not much. Not really a big deal," he mumbled as I looked at him inquiringly. I shrugged again as we made our way out the door and towards town, talking again about various things that were not romantically linked. We passed different people who gave us curious looks, but still said the polite 'hello' as we walked by. I was just about to launch into a very funny story about when I had fallen in front of the whole school at a rally when we suddenly turned the corner and I stood, staring at the big gorgeous house I had admired my first day of school.

"Are you coming in?" he asked me from the porch with confusion as I realized I had stayed in the front of the house just staring at it. I looked at him then back at the house and eventually back at him.

"You, live here?" I asked, laughing slightly like a deranged person.

"Um, yes. Why is this such a big deal?"

"You're the mayor's son," I stated simply as it all finally clicked into place. How Luke had first told me the mayor's son was someone I didn't really want to get to know since he was so stuck up. Gill's reaction when I first told him about what Luke had said when we went to dinner. Why Gill talked as formally did, not to mention those adventurous sweater vests in his wardrobe that never seemed to have an end. He was the mayor's son and thus, future mayor.

"Again, I don't see why this is a problem. I'm just, Gill," he frowned as I followed him inside. The inside was almost as elaborate as the outside, making me self conscious and ashamed of my simple house in Caramel River District, especially in the state it was in this morning.

"You're like, royalty now. Ooooh, is there a special mayor crown?"

"Oh goodness… No, there's nothing at all like that," he said, rolling his eyes as he started putting the various items I had brought back away. "It's honestly not a big deal. No one else treats me differently so you shouldn't either."

"Yeah but like, everyone else has know about this for years. This is, this is new for me. Before this, the only exciting political figure I had ever known was when I got to see several Congressman walk by in DC and I didn't know them. And now here I am, best friends with the future mayor. It's slightly a big deal to me."

He froze in what he was doing and turned to look at me. "Do you mean that? Are we really best friends?"

I bit my lip as my heart sunk. "Oh, well… I thought so at least. Sorry if I'm being presumptuous with our friendship."

"No no, I thoroughly consider you to be my best friend too," he smiled at me, a slight blush on his cheeks that looked very cute on him. I giggled, elated once again.

"You should be embarrassed more often, it works for you," I said as I stopped, realizing how my statement could be taken the wrong way. Gill, however, didn't seem to notice as he put the last movies away and turned to me.

"Are we finally ready to go do you think?" he asked as I nodded with a smile. We walked out the door and turned to head up the stairs to the flower festival.

Due to my inability to get ready on time as well as many other factors, by the time we arrived the festival was already happening and everyone looked like they were having a great time. A couple younger children were running around, sparkly pinwheels in their hands that spun happily in the wind. Someone was cooking something on a barbeque near a big tree that smelt absolutely delicious, making me wish I had thought to bring more money. Various peddlers were all around, trying to sell different wares that were here and there. And of course, there were hundreds of flowers all over the place, their lovely scents drifting in the wind. All in all, it seemed to be a very lovely festival that I was very happy I was able to attend.

"Where do you want to start?" Gill asked as he looked at me with a grin, something I was kind of not expecting. I liked seeing him like this, so very in his element. It certainly was better than how uptight he usually was and all I could do was stare at him with a smile and shrug.

"Let's look at all the vendors first," I suggested as he agreed. We went and looked at various seeds as a woman explained what they all were and why they were so important to the town. They involved this thing called a Harvest Goddess which I wasn't very sure about it but decided I'd ask Gill about it later in the day. I eventually bought a package of blue herbs to grow as we left the kind lady with a smile.

We moved unto another booth where there was a girl standing who didn't look too much older than us. She had such beautiful flowers that I almost wished to buy them all but decided against it. I started talking to her about the flowers, looking at the pretty and simple moondrop flowers. I was just about to talk about prices when Gill pulled my back, forcing me to say goodbye to the girl very quickly.

"What was that for?" I asked him as soon as we were out of her earshot. I put my hands on my hips and frowned at him as he rolled his eyes put his hands on my shoulders to turn me around. An Asian looking guy in a white coat had just gone up to the girl and was talking to her as she smiled happily at him, laughing and talking as well.

"Are they together?" I asked, a smile on my lips at the sight of blossoming love right before my eyes.

"Not yet. But I think there is something there. They are of equal temperaments and personalities, as well as the fact that both have shown interests in each other recently."

"Someone should make it happen then," I mused, suddenly realizing what Gill had down for them. "Oh, right then." It was at that moment that I abruptly remembered his hands were still on my shoulders.

"Sorry about that," he said as he took off his hands, apparently realizing the exact same thing at the same time I did. "And about pulling you away, I was just trying to give them some privacy."

"It's fine. I'm always okay with rude behavior if it is for a good cause like love," I laughed as I turned back to him.

"Like Mr. Darcy?"

"Just like him."

He laughed, once again expressing joy in his natural habitat of town. We continued walking around, looking at various other booths as we passed by. He even bought me a small thing of perfume, despite my constant protests (even though it did smell incredible) which was surprise two of the day. For some odd reason, we started to play a bug finding game with some of the children who were running around which made me laugh at how good Gill was with interacting with them. He was almost a pro at helping them catch worms and dragonflies with a net, especially in comparison to my failed ability to do anything athletic. After the game (where Gill and the three children with him had obviously won), we went to buy some food from the various vendors, since it was around three or four at that point. We took our food out of Town Square and down to the beach where other people had done the same. I sat down first and Gill followed suit.

"My, I do love potatoes," I laughed at my choice of a baked potato for food. Gill had bought some fancy looking tomato dish, even though they were totally out of season. We started eating as we looked at the ocean, the sun slowly starting its descent down.

"It's been such a nice day," Gill mused as I grinned at him.

"What? You mean, you've enjoyed my company and all, even though you had to spend a whole day with me? However did you manage?"

"Well, I did beat you at the bug catching," he laughed as I playfully shoved him.

"Not my fault I'm entomophobic. You'd be too if just, ugh," I said, shuddering at the thought of scary things like cockroaches.

"Your very funny when you freak out," he laughed again as I pretended to glare at him.

"Well you're funny, looking. Oh yeah, boom, just went there," I said as I tried to keep a straight face. He raised his eyebrow at me, making me start laughing really hard.

"Your pretty strange, but in a good way of course," he quickly said as I looked at him, trying to stop laughing.

"You're, strange too," I said, still laughing hysterically for some reason that was mystery to me.

We were silent for a couple of minutes as he ate and I eventually calmed down a little. I started on my potato again as he suddenly said, "I like your laugh. It's so, happy."

I looked to him curiously as he stared out into the ocean, probably very embarrassed by his sudden outburst. "Um, thanks. I like yours too, as well as your smile. It was nice seeing it so much today."

"Well, I've had a good time today."

"You already said that," I smiled at him as he looked back at me, somehow with a different expression than before. The sun hit the water just right, giving a romantic feel to the conversation for some unexplainable reason. I forgot all about James, all about my life and everything as I stared at Gill. Gill, who had helped me have the best day I had ever had. Gill, who was my closest friend here and had always cared about my well being. Gill, who was cute and my mystery boy and had never been presumptuous about anything. He looked at me as his mouth parted a little as he started to come a little closer. I blinked a couple of times, taking me out of what I had felt and looked back to the ocean.

"Tell me about the Harvest Goddess," I said, trying not to look at him so I wouldn't have a repeat of the strange feeling I had just felt. Out of the corner of my eye I could see him freeze, shake his head with a frown and eventually look back to me.

"The Harvest Goddess? Where did you even hear about her?"

"Not important, just talk," I said, looking down at the sand as I started doodling.

"Alright, but not here." He got up and helped me up as well. I tried not looking to his face, too embarrassed by what had just happened. If he knew what had happened (since I personally couldn't explain it), he didn't show it as easily as I had as we walked over to his house. He opened the door for me and led me to the drawing room where there was a map of the island on the wall with various colored dots and lines that represented certain important looking flowers.

"Nice. I didn't know your family was cartographers along with royalty. Anything else you need to tell me about yourself, like you're secretly Batman or something?"

He looked at me and shook his head. "I worry about your sanity sometimes. No see this; this is a map that has been in the Hamilton family for a very long time. You asked about the Harvest Goddess and I'm willing to tell you the story just, be warned. It's pretty long and I don't know it all myself, but here goes.

'This island had always been big and prosperous, full of life and energy and many establishments. It was those days everyone remembers about Waffle Island and it is those days many still wish to remember. This was before my time, back when my father was younger was when the island really was at its peak. Sometimes, I wish I could have seen it like this and it's what I aspire the island to be when I'm eventually mayor.

'About 25, maybe 30 years ago or so the island started declining. Businesses started decreasing and closing up shop, there were more storms, the crop quality started declining, and many other things. No one could figure out what was wrong with the island until it was realized the island spirit, the Harvest Goddess, was dying, so the island was dying as well. This was devastating to most residents and many left as well, making this a ghost town. Only a few devoted islanders stayed, including my father and some of the older inhabitants, such as Simon and Barbara, or Dale and his family. In short, the island became a ghost town, haunted by the spirit of the dying Harvest Goddess.

'It was at this time, when all hope seemed lost about ten or fifteen years ago a girl moved to the island, a girl named Angela. She was an aspiring farmer who had seen a pamphlet my father had sent out, hoping that someone would see it and come to help. Her moving here sent the whole town in frenzy; never had they thought someone would willingly move to a decrepit town. Through her intuition and skill, she was able to waken the Harvest Sprites and bring prosperity back to the island. She even was able to save the Harvest Goddess. The time she got through doing all this was and when everyone first saw the return of the Goddess was around the time of the Flower Festival, so every year it is a little more special than other festivals.

'Angela eventually left, much to the dismay of many of the eligible bachelors in town, including my older brother. He was, as you say, smitten with her, though she didn't return the feelings I don't believe. She left town after everything was all said and done, leaving behind a new age of prosperity. This is why we now have a school, and why there are more islanders on here than before. The town has grown immensely and it seems that every month another family arrives. It's, strange sometimes but nice."

"And your brother?" I asked, speaking for the first time through his whole story.

"He's gone of course. He sends letters every once and a while from the states, still trying to find Angela to see if her feelings have changed. I don't think they parted on a very good note."

"That's so, sad. But sweet he still loves her after all these years. She must have been quite the catch."

"She was," a voice said from behind us, making me jump. I spun around to see the mayor looking at us both with amusement and wondered when he had come in.

"Hello Father," Gill said with slight annoyance.

"Hello sir. Mr. Hamilton. Mr. Mayor…. Sir," I said, feeling like an idiot as I fought the urge to curtsey as well.

"Hamilton, please. It's what everyone else calls me," he laughed as he looked to Gill. "So son, catching up Lizzy on our town history then I see?"

"She asked about the Harvest Goddess, so I just told her the basics."

"Ah yes. Why we celebrate this joyous day, why the town has almost doubled in population. All because of that amazing woman."

"It was a good festival today Father," Gill nodded in agreement, followed by silence.

"Lovely house by the way," I piqued I (unable to think of anything else to say) as Hamilton smiled at me.

"I'm glad you think so. Nothing like anything of when my wife was alive of course, but I try and maintain it best I can. Are you staying for dinner Lizzy?"

I opened my mouth a couple of times and shook my head. "No sir, I do need to be getting home, plus I'm sure Gill is quite tired of me after today."

"I told you I wasn't," he mumbled as I smiled back to Hamilton.

"Thank you though, I appreciate it." I started moving to the door as Gill followed me. I waited until we were outside before I questioned him about what he was doing.

"You don't honestly think that I'd let you walk home by yourself. It's dark and there could be axe murderers," he laughed as I rolled my eyes.

"Now you're just being ridiculous sir," I laughed, linking arms with him as we went down the path on the way to my house. We again talked about random things of absolutely no consequence, but it was nice. With Gill, we just talked with almost no barriers, minus the subject of romance which was probably for the best.

My mind thought of James and I suddenly felt very bad, as if this talking was wrong, even if we weren't doing anything at all. Maybe that was equally bad in relationship etiquette. I wouldn't know. Gill was explaining something as we made our way on the final road to my house. I was silent, trying to think of how to make up for my lack of anything about James. Before I knew it we were at my doorstep, our arms still linked.

"Lizzy? Are you alright?" Gill asked me, unlinking our arms to look at me. I blinked at him, realizing I had been zoning out in thought in response of what to do about James almost the whole walk over.

"Oh yeah, right, everything is a-okay. Really," I smiled, laughing a little nervously. Gill looked at me with puzzlement, then shook his head.

"I don't believe you, but won't bother you about it to respect your privacy."

"Thank you Gill, you really are the best," I said, giving him a giant hug that I thought he well deserved. "I'm just, so happy after today, truly I am." I let go of him and stood there, smiling.

He looked as if he wanted to say something else but didn't. "I'm glad you're so happy then," he eventually said as he turned to leave.

"Wait!" I said, causing him to turn around immediately. For some reason I didn't wish him to leave and I thought of something I had been meaning to do for a while."Um, we're best friends now and well, silly me we haven't even exchanged numbers!"

"No, I guess we haven't," he agreed. I smiled and nodded and took the phone he offered, immediately putting my number in it as he did the same. Once again, I grew a little ashamed at my cheap slide phone in comparison to his nice iphone, but I smiled as I handed it back to him.

"I, um, need a picture for your contact," he said with embarrassment as I nodded.

"Right, right," I nodded. "Do you want it together or just by myself?"

"Just you is fine. I know what I look like." I grinned as he took the picture with a little beam at his phone as he finally got the picture.

"Is that good?" He nodded. "You know, I'm so proud of you. That last comment was totally something I would have said," I laughed as he shrugged.

"Maybe you're rubbing off on me or something along those lines."

"Oh dear, if that's the case I'm sorry. I wouldn't want to be like me," I laughed, not paying attention to what was happening. In a second he had grabbed my hand and kissed it, looking up at me with a smile.

"Don't say that. You are a bright ray of happiness Lizzy and I, I'd be honored to be considered anywhere similar to you." He paused, as if maybe meaning to say more as I stared at him speechless and unable to do anything. Gill flushed a little and suddenly pulled out a lavender flower he must have bought earlier. He handed it to me, making it the third surprise of the day even though I was still incapable of speech. He bowed to me before he promptly turned around and left, leaving me standing there confused.

As soon as he was out of sight, I went into my house, turned the light on and collapsed with my back to the door, unable to fully comprehend all that had just happened.


	12. Chapter 12: Just Not my Day

_So, Im really really REALLY sorry this hasn't been updated in over a month. I know, I am fully ashamed of myself too. But, I was out of town for most of July, I've been doing my AP summer homework, working on another story, and all the while just dealing with everything life has thrown me recently. Anywho though, here is the long overdue chapter update that is about double what I usually write, which wasn't intentional. Sorry if it's boring or lack luster, it is just a filler for some funny plotline to come. Hope you enjoy and continue showing me love and reviews!_

_A/N: This is a Gill chapter that shows him a little angsty, though it is very necessary angst for as Dion and the Belmonts once reviewed, it is quite hard being a teenager in love/like/romantically intrested in a person._

_A/N 2: The passage of time in this story doesn't follow the traditional seasons HM time scheme. For this, each season is equivalent to 3 regular months to make it seem a more traditional year and hae a little bit more excitement in time and storyline. Once again, I'd love to hear people's thoughts about it if they have time or, thoughts!_

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The days passed, turning into weeks and eventual months in the happy village of Waffle Town and every day, I watched the happy couple of Elizabeth and James, trying to not be too invested in her. Some days, it was easier to see and remember the original problems I had had with her, such as the too raucous laugh, clumsy demeanor she possessed, and her messy hair, though I always supposed none of these were her fault. But more often, when I wasn't contradicting every beautiful thing that made her Lizzy, each day that passed gave me a much better opportunity to see all the reasons why I was smitten with her and more importantly, why I just could not get her out of my head.

Ever since we had exchanged numbers at the Flower Festival, Lizzy and I usually texted each other at least twenty texts a day. There were always those days when it was sometimes more, sometimes less, but all in all, we usually conversed in some manner or form at least every day. If it was even possible, she was even more charming and witty over electronic form, making me always wish that I could actually see her stunning smile or hear her unique laugh every time one of us texted the other something very amusing. We would talk about random things of no consequential manner that somehow, she made seem that they were the most imperative things in the world to discuss. In every text and every character I received, she never failed to show just how appealing and amiable she really was. I was a goner for her but of course, as in the typical high school melodrama, she was not the same for me.

Another change from that life-altering Flower Festival dance came in the form of my biggest predicament. James and Lizzy became almost inseparable, always together at lunch and break, always hanging out after school, always at the Sundae Inn together, always at the beach together, always, always, always. Every spot that had been familiar in my life since infancy was now a place of caution, as one never quite knew when the two would just show up unexpectedly, always ruining a perfectly good day.

This had happened once when I had been at Meringue Clinic one afternoon after school. Father had contacted a bad cough that I didn't wish to catch, so I had gone down there to see if Irene could help me get a little pick-me-up for him. I hadn't really wanted to go, as Irene somewhat terrified me, but I knew it would be good for Father so I had gone anyways. Ever since Lizzy had become a part of my life, I noticed that I performed these random kindnesses and thoughtful actions to others, more so than I had before, a sign of all the positive effects she truly had on me.

"Thank you for everything Irene, I'm sure this will help immensely," I had said to her as she handed me a bag with a bottle of syrup in it, very eager to get away as quick as I could from both her and the clinic. Hospitals had always frightened me even more than Irene did, and from my perspective, the sooner getting out of there the better.

"I'm sure it will. We can't have our Mayor ill now can we?" she asked, smiling at me kindly. I tried smiling back to be pleasant as I gripped the bag, hoping she wasn't trying to suddenly start up a conversation as older people usually tended to do with me. Perhaps it was the sweater vests or authorative way I spoke, or the fact that I looked about five years older than my actual age. Maybe some other reason altogether. However it never failed that usually, the elderly always stopped to talk to me and ask about my life, no matter where I was.

"My sentiments exactly," I said as I started leaning to towards my escape, hoping she'd get the hint that I wanted to leave. I waved to her and turned around to walk out the door when she called my name again.

"Oh yoo-hoo, Gilbert! Please, wait. I have something I need to ask of you!"

I grumbled under my breath, but turned around anyways. "Yes, what are you needing?" I asked, trying to be polite as I walked back up to the counter. Irene smiled back at me and held up a finger for me to wait where I was. She hurried to the back (in quite impressive time I had to add for someone of her age) and brought back a couple pieces of paper.

"Now then, do you happen to know who Elizabeth Pilgrim is Gill?" she asked, peering up at me.

My heart beat faster internally at the irony of the situation and mere mention of her name, but I just simply nodded. "Yes, I've talked to her a couple of times before, she's a, a very nice girl."

"I think so too, these island girls don't come like that anymore you know," she sighed and shook her head. "She truly will make some lucky man very happy indeed one day."

My mouth opened to Irene's words as I tried to unsuccessfully clamp it down. My heart contracted at her words, knowing the full truth of them. Lizzy was certainly a catch in any situation, a fact I was going to have to except one day. She'd make a guy (most likely James at the rate they were going) very happy indeed in marriage. It hurt to think about it, even if I knew I would just never be that guy, no matter how much I wished it was else wise.

"Yes, I believe so too," I eventually said, my mind still preoccupied with the sudden thoughts about Lizzy. "Why do ask though ma'am?"

"She brings me in so many pontana roots and herbs that I just don't know what to do with them all sometimes," she continued, looking at me with a smile.

"I'm, sorry," I said merely, not quite knowing what say to her, as well as my newfound feeling of concern about the level of intensity she was staring at me with.

"It' alright, quite alright. It shows her thoughtfulness though, another quality you don't find in you young folk anymore."

"My generation is not often known for the use of their minds, no," I admitted again, wondering where she was going with this. My stomach growled softly, kindly reminding me of the nice hot dinner waiting for me at home.

"No they do not. However, Lizzy is a different kind of breed altogether. If Jin wasn't so into that farmer's daughter…" her voice trailed off as she looked to the window, then back to me. "But sonny, you didn't hear that from me. However, I asked if you knew her because she came in the other day and asked me for some recipes for different variations of miso soup. She said that she'd be back in yesterday at the latest, but still she hasn't come, no doubt busy with some very important thing as she's always doing. I was wondering nonetheless, if you could drop the recipes off to her."

She reached back and handed me the papers she had gotten out a couple minutes ago. "Miso Soup" was written neatly at the top in nice script, giving it a sense of maternal-ness that made me half smile. Irene was looking at me strangely, eyeing me in an all knowing way. I recognized the look as being similar to one Lizzy always gave me, making me involuntarily smile kindly back to her. "I'd be happy to deliver this ma'am," I said with honesty, wanting any excuse I could have to look at Lizzy again. Perhaps I should think about changing before I went over there…

"Thank you Gill, I really do appreciate it. I would, but Jin tells me I over exert myself normally anyways."

My mind snapped out of its thoughts as I looked at Irene; once again forgetting she had been there. "It really is no problem, I don't mind at all," I said, already looking forward to seeing Lizzy, remembering how nice she had looked at school that day. I waved to Irene, determining she couldn't be that bad if I got to see Lizzy in the end, and turned around right as the door opened, revealing a laughing Lizzy and James.

"Gill!" Lizzy said with happiness once she saw me standing there pathetically with her papers, incredulous at my luck. She let go of James's hands and looked as if she was about to hug me, but stopped midway and awkwardly gave me her hand to shake instead.

"Hello Lizzy," I said, shaking her hand with my free one as I looked at her face, once again stunned by how absolutely perfect it managed to look. I tore my eyes from her unwillingly and looked at James with an acknowledging nod as I set the bag back on the counter behind me. "Hello James."

"Gill," he nodded back, eyeing my hand in Lizzy's. I hadn't noticed it was still there and I promptly broke our hands apart and shoved mine at my side, much to her amusement.

"I didn't think you'd be here Gill, I've never seen you here before when I've come," Lizzy grinned at me, oblivious to my sudden nerves. I stuck my now shaking hands in my pockets and shrugged.

"Ah, yes. I'm in here all kinds, _loads_ of times. I just, love the medical field," I lied, trying to be suave and debonair but probably failing and looking, awkward. As always.

"Doctor or nurse practitioner?" James asked, sliding his hand back into Lizzy's smoothly, making my heart sink. She continued smiling as he eyed me expectantly.

"Yes," I said after a pause, anxious to leave and not see the revolting sight in front of me. James looked at me with confusion as I bowed back to Irene. "And with that note, this seems like the perfect time for me to depart. I bid you a good day and-"

"Already?" Lizzy asked with a frown as I turned back around. Her eyes widened as she cocked her head to the side, making me almost forget how to breathe. "But we, we just got here."

"And? I, I'm not spending my afternoon here, I have much better things I could be doing. Besides, I wouldn't want to ruin both of your afternoons with my, existence," I said cynically, wanting to just escape and to find solace for me to happily mope in.

"That's a somewhat rude thing to say. Maybe it is better if you leave then," Lizzy said as she narrowed her lips tightly. Looking down I nodded and bowed to them both.

"I'll see you both at school," I said as I walked past them to the door. I was about to open it when I saw I still had the papers for Lizzy in my hand. "These are for you," I said as I spun around awkwardly and shoved the papers at her. She tried grabbing them, but of course with my outstanding luck they all fell on the ground. I kneeled down at the same time she did, knocking our heads together in the process.

"How cliché," she laughed as we both kneeled on the ground and stumbled to get all the papers together. We reached for the same paper at the same time, making her accidently place her hand on mine. The heat from her hand touched my cold skin, making me almost gasp and swallow very hard. I looked up at her eyes, where she was already staring at me, a look of astonishment clearly painted on her face.

"Indeed," I whispered, unable to look elsewhere but at her. James cleared his throat loudly, making us both jump and straighten up quickly.

"Thank you, Gill," she said, unable to look at me again. I nodded and noticed James eyeing me apprehensively and Irene smiling at me from the back of the whole scene. Heart hammering, I walked outside, trying to desperately not look back. Once outside, I grabbed at a nearby tree and slumped down.

"Can a guy not get a break?" I mumbled, thinking it was just my luck that when I tried to do something kind for someone else, I was forced to have to witness the source of my current unhappiness. _Why can't I just go somewhere and not see them, or not have any thoughts about Lizzy; that would just make everything a lot easier_ I thought miserably and looked up at the sky.

"It's because she's everywhere," I mumbled again, cursing almost at my sudden revelation. I realized with chagrin I had left the medicine at the clinic but decided I wouldn't go back to get it. After all, I could only torture myself for so long every day.

This happened to just be one of the many occurrences of the happy couple being absolutely everywhere in my life and it never failed every time I happened to see them together, I always acted extremely awkward around them, unable to fully function as normal Gill whenever something Lizzy-related was involved. Such as the time when I was at the Town Hall library reading and I heard them coming up the stairs, so I promptly jumped behind the couch in a very stealth-like action. Or the time when I was at the general store and saw them through the window and had to hide in a nearby bureau. That was certainly very hard to explain to Simon, who only just given me a strange look when I had finally come out of it once they had left. Perhaps my personal favorite though, was the time I was walking in Caramel District on the path near the pond and Toby's house. I had been idly thinking about any and all things completely not Lizzy related when I noticed the two of them walking down the same path, making me promptly go and, jump in the pond. Not of course my proudest moment, but I did successfully avoid them, something I had been trying to accomplish all of these times and encounters with them.

It wasn't as if I was ashamed or scared about meeting up with them or even talking to either of them; that was always fine. I could be civil (in a sort) and funny, all without embarrassing myself or those around me. However, it was more of something else altogether, of which it never failed every time it was just the three of us together I had no handle on what I did, what I said, or how I acted around Lizzy, which was something I usually wished to avoid altogether. And of course, there were the typical aching feelings I always had once I witnessed them together and in my book, avoiding such circumstances at all costs seemed like a much better course of action than any other plan that I could think about doing.

And so, I lived in my place of obscurity with much more satisfaction and joy than would be accomplished trying to do anything to better my romantical situation. I still did well in school and working at Town Hall on Saturdays, read as often as I had before and to those who weren't as familiarized with me, I probably seemed as if I was in fact perfectly fine. My father however looked at me every day as if he suspected I was heart-broken as I was, but of course he did and said nothing, which I was very appreciative of, for I knew if he had inquired about it I doubt I would have anything productive or heart-warming to report to him.

My only consolation at this time was just how much Lizzy and I still associated together. Whenever we talked and hung out, it was almost very easy to forget she was with that Joe Jonas wannabe. In fact, it was usually very easy to forget about most things, and I often found myself in a different atmosphere altogether when I was with her. Neither of us ever brought up my unexpected behavior at the end of the Flower Festival, which I was almost relieved for. I knew it could have been a lot worse, and that I had almost tried to kiss her when we had been sitting together on the beach. I sometimes wondered what would have happened had I succeeded, and Lizzy knew how I now felt about her. But, I figured whatever happened now was for the best and I tried to be a lot more guarded now, respecting all the boundaries she had with James.

In this time of grief and ache, the school year came to an end, marking the beginning and end of many things. Many of my acquaintances graduated, such as Calvin, Jin, Anissa, and I had attended their graduation with bittersweet and conflicted emotions. Sadly these sentiments weren't because of the graduation itself, but more of the fact that Lizzy and James were only two rows ahead of me holding hands, which I got a lovely full view of. I had tried ignoring them best I could, but of course one could only watch a graduation for so long and so I noticed them that night a lot more than I had particularly liked.

Before I knew it, summer was in the air, as well as the lovely intoxicating scent of tomatoes everywhere. That was truly the only good thing about summer was the tomatoes, everything else being very insipid in comparison. I didn't like the typical beach parties and cliché summer romances, or the absolutely _lovely_ feel of muggy weather and intense sunburns. Call me cynical, but true to everyone's expectations about me, I just loved to hate the things that most everyone else loved, such as summer.

I awoke the third week of summer as I did every day of summer, very late and very lethargic. Most days it took me a couple of hours to get ready and get dressed, as I was usually very fine with staying in my nice comfy pajamas longer than the restricting vests I consistently wore. This day though was special, because I had vowed to myself the night before that was going to see Lizzy, that I just had to see her. Thus, I got ready with uncommon speed, putting on a comfy polo and shorts instead of the hand-knitted vest (Grandma Hamilton's Christmas gifts never grew old, just extremely stifling during the area's sultry summers). I was eager and excited to see her, which usually resulted in me being very…

"Clumsy," I muttered as I spilt a box of cereal all over our kitchen floor that I had knocked down in my hurry. I cleaned it up quickly, opting for a muffin instead. Suddenly very anxious, I decided to leave, knowing Lizzy would already be awake. I went out the door and down the road, my heart pounding in my ears as I thought of what to say to her, of what to do this suddenly wonderful summer day. Every day was becoming harder and harder to go through without telling her about my feelings, and I knew eventually I was just going to crack.

"She has to know though, she's not that dense," I mumbled to myself as I passed Calvin on the road. He looked at me strangely, but just shrugged and kept walking, no doubt to go and tell Chase and the other guys I was crazy. That was exactly what I needed, for the whole town to think I was a snob (which they already did) _and_ deranged.

I walked into Caramel River District, suddenly very apprehensive and a little self-conscious about seeing her. The sun was already hot on my neck, making me a little irritated and I continued walking and suddenly stopped, unable to move without staring the sight in front of me.

Lizzy was in her yard, working hardly in her garden. Her hair was in a messy ponytail, most of the strands very loose and coming out of the elastic. She had rows of corn and other such summer crops growing, but it was two rows of beautiful red plants that held my interest. There were even beautiful flowers growing everywhere, putting her in a beautiful scene of color and splendor. Glasses and pajamas still on, I just could not look away from the image of beauty and perfection right in front of me that somehow managed to make even farming look alluring.

She pushed up her glasses and leaned on the shovel she had been using as she looked up, noticing me with a look of excitement. "Oh Gill, when did you get here?" she asked, looking at me with a faint smile.

I looked back at her, realizing how awkward I must have looked just standing there gazing. "Oh you know, not very long ago. I just got here, at your home. Maybe three seconds. Not long at all," I remarked rapidly, hoping I wouldn't seem as peculiar as I felt.

"Were you watching me _garden_?" she asked with a laugh, pushing back her bangs with her arm.

"Don't be preposterous, I'm not one of those creepy men folk. People," I said, looking at her in what I hoped was a calm disposition but probably wasn't. "But um, what are you doing today?"

"This is it?" she laughed with a shrug. "You know me Gill; I don't plan out my days in a super meticulous way like some people do."

"I don't plan out my days!" I protested, not wanting to seem as uptight and stiff as I was in comparison to Lizzy's relaxed way of living life.

"I didn't say you did. Maybe someone is just really guilty." Her eyes twinkled at me mischievously, captivating me ever so much more than I thought possible.

"Or someone is just wanting to know if you wished to accompany him today, unless you have James plans or anything of which of course, I would understand completely," I somehow managed to get out, suddenly very shy about coming here as I looked down and away from her face.

"No, he's being boring and packing today so I am all yours," she laughed, not realizing the effect those particular words had on me. She got off her shovel and walked to her house as I followed her, my heart still reeling at the influence 'I am all yours' had on a person. "As usual, I need to get ready, so just wait out here," she said as we made our way into her house. I nodded and numbly sat on a couch as she went into her room.

"Stupid Gill," I muttered to myself, wishing I had more restraint on my mind and pathetic heart. It was as if my whole being enjoyed being miserable, tormenting me with the mere thought of a possibility of being able to be with Lizzy. Honestly. I just needed to accept the fact that she was with James and get over it.

Maybe it was the fact that at times, it just didn't feel as if she was with him. Perhaps it was that together they just, didn't look very good together. He was much too tall for her, her messy hair uncharacteristic with his polished look, and of course… he had glasses. When she didn't. That automatically made them a bad couple. Even if he was a good guy who, I hated to admit, did look as if he genuinely cared for her, that still just could not justify all the other wrongs with them.

_Now you're just being ridiculous_ my mind told me as I sighed, looking around the room to distract my angsting mind. In the past couple of months, Lizzy had definitely made the whole place a lot homier than what the house had been before, complete with her personal touches and the pleasant scent of lavender everywhere. A couple of pictures were hanging on the wall, one of which I noticed was of her and James standing on the bridge near her house, laughing at whoever was taking the picture. I saw the picture of her parent I had noticed one time, and another picture of her with someone I didn't recognize at all. I stood and walked to a board she had up with a large array of colorful post-its on it. 'Luke likes mayonnaise,' 'Talk to Hamilton about a land grant,' 'Need more seeds,' 'Gill likes tomatoes; remember to give him lots to make him smile.'

I reached out to grab the post-it with my name, but stopped my hand mid-way. _She'll notice if this is gone_ I thought again, though that did not stop the idiotic grin on my face. She knew. She knew I loved tomatoes even though I had never told her. This, this had to mean she at least paid even the slightest bit of attention to me; maybe I did have a small chance after all!

"Gill… What are you doing?" I spun around to see Lizzy standing in her doorway, her hands on her hips. I noticed a comfy looking Captain America t-shirt and a pair of shorts that made me gulp a little where I was standing. Her glasses were gone and her messy hair was pulled into a ponytail, overall making her look so perfect without even trying.

"I dropped my, handkerchief. It rolled away. Scientific phenomenon," I said hastily, trying to play it off composedly with my absolutely lame excuse.

"You, that isn't, ahh," she said as she shook her head. "Never mind, I can see you want to be Mr. Secret then, that's fine." She walked to me and picked up a piece of paper on the ground and set it on a table and then looked at me expectantly. "Well? What are we doing today?"

"Um, something. Really fun. It will be a great day of spontaneity and adventure."

"Meaning you came here with no idea of anything to do, all the while expecting me to think of something miraculous, right?" she said with a small grin as she walked a little closer to me. She was suddenly very close to me, almost in my face with her excited eyes. "Isn't that right Gill?"

"Um, what?" I asked, trying to remember the question, my name, and how to breathe. I stepped back into the wall, confused at her sudden change in attitude. She grinned at me and walked forward, putting her finger on my chest until I was into the wall and unable to move as she continued inching forward to me. My eyes widened as she smirked.

"You didn't plan this day did you?" she whispered, inches away from my ear.

"That would be a negative, you-you got me," I replied as I just looked at her, unable to do anything else. She grinned up at me and stepped back, putting her hands behind her back.

"Okay, I was just wondering and you were being uncooperative. Are you okay, you look somewhat concerned," she laughed at me, giving me a quizzical look. _Play it cool, be suave, be smooth Gill_.

"I'm fine, I'm in good health, I'm suave-"I bit my lip and looked at Lizzy, who was trying to contain a grin. "Well, I'm modest in the very least," I laughed, trying to play it off as my mind had so brilliantly encouraged me.

"I'd have to agree to both, I admit. You are quite a suave guy after all," she smiled at me as I grinned back, no doubt looking like an idiot.

"Thank you. You're a real, hip girl yourself."

"Oh, oh dear, let's just establish for you to never try and be a hipster again," she laughed as I joined in with a nod.

"That sounds like a really excellent idea. So um, were you wishing to go anywhere specific today?"

"Oh I don't know, this was kind of shoved upon me without any time for me to think about it," she said, pursing her lips and looking at me pathetically. She laughed and turned to a map of the island she had hanging on the wall. Her eyebrows furrowed in a very cute manner as she looked at the whole picture of it, tilting her head as she tried tracing a path from one spot to another. I leaned against the wall, looking at her, unable to contain my happiness and feelings of just being around her.

"We could go to the Sundae Inn. Or to Brownie Ranch. Or the beach again, or…" she turned to me with confusion. "What are you doing?"

"Listening. Any of those sound great," I nodded, looking down to cover up how much I had been obviously staring at her.

She sighed. "Are you going to be a guy right now, being super difficult without deciding anything or being useful?" she frowned, putting a hand on her hip as she had earlier.

"No. Just, I was going to see if you wanted to go somewhere first, trying to be courteous and suave."

"Well I really don't care where we go," she said in a tone that implied she definitely did.

"Well, I was thinking we could just get lunch from the Inn and then go somewhere for a nice picnic, but I don't know, it's your decision."

She looked at me with what appeared to be a suppressed smile and shrugged. "That sounds fine. See, you do have good ideas!"

I shrugged. "I guess. But, do you think James will mind you being with me all day?"

"Why would he? That's a weird and random question to ask Gill," she frowned, looking very confused.

"No, I'm just trying to-"

"-is this like guy code?" Lizzy asked with a little more excitement than necessary, her eyes suddenly very eager and wide.

"Um, somewhat I guess. I don't know I just, thought I would ask to be courteous. Wouldn't you wish to know if he was hanging out with another girl?"

"No," she scoffed. "I wouldn't care. I think that we have the kind of relationship that we can trust each other to hang out with different people. Besides, James knows that we are really close."

"I doubt he's as okay with it as you think though," I mumbled, remembering a couple of the glares I'd received from him numerous times when Lizzy wasn't paying attention.

"Pardon?" she asked. "I didn't hear that last part."

"It's not relevant. You still say pardon though?" I asked, trying to hold in a smile.

"Oh, yeah I guess I do. I, I don't even notice it anymore though, honestly. I'm telling you Gill, you're such a part of my life now and even I don't realize it," she laughed, looking down bashfully as I blushed. I looked the other way so she couldn't see me and pretended to cough to cover it up.

"Right," I said eventually once I had composed myself enough. I looked back to Lizzy, noticing she was also somewhat blushing for some unknown reason. "But um, are you ready to go do you think?"

"Oh yeah, sounds good," she smiled. She promptly put her arm in mine so we were linked together as we walked out of the house and unto the road.

"So where is James going?" I asked, trying to be polite and pretend I cared about him while also possibly learning some potential valuable information for when Lizzy would be alone.

"He's going back to the states for a couple of weeks to go see his family back there," she said quietly as we got out of her yard. I squeezed her arm reassuringly and smiled at her as empathetically as I could.

"I'm sorry that must be, hard to be separated like that," I said, not really knowing what else to say. She laughed and looked up at me.

"You don't have to feign concern; I thought you'd be happier about it. I know you two aren't very close."

"Yes but, why would I be happy about something that would make you sad? That is horrible best friendship."

"I suppose it is," she said, giving me a strange look.

I squirmed a little under her look and stared straight as we continued walking. "So, he'll be missing your birthday then also?"

"How, when, why do you know when my birthday is?" she asked with shock, her mouth open in surprise.

"Your questionnaire. I know everything about everyone here it's a, long story," I sighed, realizing my slip of the tongue. Do not show how invested you are in her Gill!

"I see. But yes, he will be. But it's not a big deal, birthdays have never been a big celebratory thing for me," she admitted, looking off a little to the surroundings we passed.

"Well, it should be. The day of your birth should definitely be celebrated."

"I, suppose," she replied, once again giving me a very quizzical look.

"So, um, his family lives in the states? Then why is he here?" I asked, genuinely confused again and wishing to change the subject before I revealed anything else of great embarrassment.

"His mom wished for him to have a chance to live outside of home before college and saw the same lovely flier that was used to lure me here," she looked at me slyly wiggled her eyebrows for some reason and laughed. "Sorry. But, oh, fun fact for you. I just found this out the other day and I thought it was semi-interesting. Apparently at the last place I lived before here is also where his family lives, lived, too. We even went to the same school even, we just didn't know it then," she said with a small smile, no doubt thinking about him still. He didn't even have to be here for me to be second best to him!

"That's great. It's like a match made in heaven, I'm sure," I said with a smile, once again trying to be kind instead of saying something snarky about her, boyfriend. Ugh, I doubt I'd ever be comfortable saying those words in regards to that simple minded boy and Lizzy.

"Right, I mean, how cliché is that?" she rolled her eyes, but I could tell she was smiling at the same time. She looked back to me with a look of awareness. "But, enough about me, honestly! What about you Gill, how are you doing? I feel like we haven't talked in forever."

"We have…" I looked at her uncomfortably and shrugged. "There's nothing really new to report though, truthfully. The only thing that has been happening is father starting me on doing my mayor preparatory work so that's always, a real treat."

"For when you rule this island!" Lizzy practically squealed, overcome with an apparent lot of excitement. She squeezed my arm and looked at me with a grin. "I totally forgot about that; this is so much more exciting than my summer has been!"

"Really I doubt that. Do you truly wish to know the records of everyone on this island, extensive history from over 300 years ago, and be lectured every day about the long line of Hamilton's on this island that have been successful? It's, not as fun as you may think," I frowned with a sigh as we got to the edge of town. It wasn't a sigh of me feeling sorry for me because my life was atypical to stereotypical teenagers, but more of a sigh that we were now to the edge of town and I needed to unlink arms with Lizzy so the neighbors wouldn't talk. We unlinked arms as soon as I saw the first house, disappointing me greatly.

We paused and she turned to me. "See, I just think you're putting way too much pressure on yourself to be perfect Gill. You just need to take it one day at a time and, chill. You will be great just because of the mere fact it is you, because no best friend of mine will be sucking at anything."

I smiled at her, as she somehow had the ability to always say the absolutely perfect thing I needed to hear. Once again, I felt the uncontrollable urge to just grab and kiss her, causing a lot of inner turmoil inside of me. So, I promptly put my hands in my pockets and nodded.

"Thank you Lizzy. You're, just such a great person. You know that, right?"

"Eh, I've heard it once or twice," she grinned, her eyes twinkling in the sun. I balled my hands into fists, once again trying to resist her as much as I could.

"We should get food," I said quickly, feeling that easing hunger would help stop me from acting stupidly.

"Oh, right, that sounds good," she nodded as we walked to the Inn, greeting anyone we happened to walk by.

"I'll make sure to keep quiet about it in the Inn, but when we go to actually eat, I want to hear loads more about your mayor duties, if you can even tell me. Are they family secrets?" Lizzy asked enthusiastically right before I opened the door for her. I grasped the door handle and turned to give her a strange look.

"Um, no. Why would they be? I honestly think you are way more excited about this whole me being mayor thing then I am. Are you sure you don't want the job instead?" I asked, raising my eyebrow at her as she laughed.

"Who knows, I could be mayor. Though, the only way that would happen would be if I married you and I don't see that happening," she laughed as my stomach clenched together, dejection dropping into it hard.

"Right, that'd be really awkward if we did. Good, good thinking," I somehow managed to get out, unable to think of what else to say.

"That, and I'm 16. That's super inappropriate to even think about with anyone," she laughed as I nodded.

"Understandable, though I thought usually women got really excited when it came to all that wedding planning process."

"Yeah, most girls do. But remember, I'm not like most girls and I could care less about all that stuff," she shuddered, making me appreciate her even more so than I thought possible.

"Yes, I do know that about you," I mumbled, more to myself than her. I looked down in thought, once again thinking about Lizzy more than I needed to.

"Hey Gill, are we going to go in sometime soon? Otherwise, we should probably not block the way," Lizzy observed, motioning to an incoming Julius and Maya who looked as if they'd both rather be somewhere else than with each other.

"Right, sorry," I said, holding the door open for them as they came our way. Julius's perfume was very strong, causing me to sneeze as he walked by and glared at me. I shut the door, still sneezing once they were well inside. My nose kept acting up, giving me a violent sneezing fit that I tried to hide from Lizzy. Before I knew it though, I had a handkerchief shoved in front of me that I instantly took without even thinking.

"Thanks," I said once I was able to talk again, irritated with my nose.

"No problem, I'm repaying the favor, though that is mine and not yours. Likewise however, I do not want it back," she said, looking at me with a half smile.

"Oh okay, right. I'll be sure to just, keep it then," I nodded, once again feeling very awkward.

"I think we're good to go inside now though," she laughed, reaching for the door as I did also. My hand landed on hers as I grew a little embarrassed by the touch, though I tried not to show it.

"I got it; it's what I'm supposed to do after all," I said with exasperation, not wanting any of her charming feminist ways at this same moment I was trying to be proper.

"That's so archaic though! I can get the door perfectly fine!"

"It's called chivalry. I'm just trying to prove it's not dead. I don't want to squish your hand though, so I got this."

She smirked at me and moved her hand so my fingers were in between the cracks of her finger s, intertwining our hands and making my breathe catch. I figured it was the best I was going to get, so I started to open the door as we both awkwardly made our way in, laughing a little as we walked into the somewhat quiet inn. Everyone already there stared at us as we made our way to the counter as I secretly hoped Chase would be in a good mood today.

At the counter, Candace was sitting, laughing quietly at whatever Chase was saying to her. The two were leaning in very close to one another, making my eyebrows rise a little in wondering. I turned to Lizzy (who had already been looking at me) as we both nodded, thinking the same thing. 'They're cute' she mouthed to me with a smile, making me smile back and nod.

I turned back and noticed a glaring Julius and Maya sitting at table nearby, watching both Candace and Chase and not each other as they should have been. I felt a hint of sadness for them both, as we were all technically in the same boat, but I somewhat prided myself I was handling it a lot better than both of them were. There appeared to be a pause in the conversation, making me hurry to go talk to Chase before anything drastic happened.

"Chase! Chase! Just whom I wanted to talk to," I said as I walked up to the kitchen counter and put an elbow on it like Chase had been positioned. He looked at me with irritation as Candace just observed me with her normal wide-eyed expression that I realized with a heart twinge was very similar to Luna's.

"Yes Gill? What do you need?" he asked with pursed lips, unwillingly taking his eyes off Candace to look at me with condescension. I was about to answer when I felt an arm on my back, making me jump at the mere touch. I turned and noticed Lizzy right next to me now, smiling at me reassuringly.

"Hi Chase and Candace! Did Gill ask you yet?" she asked Chase with a smile, who rolled his eyes at me.

"No. Not quite. I'd love to be enlightened anytime though."

"Chase! Be-be nice to them pl-please. I like Lizzy and, and Gill," Candace said, looking at us both with a lot of kindness and a sly smile that insinuated her thoughts. I happened to think I knew exactly what she was thinking, which once again made me sad it wasn't true.

"I'll try," Chase said to Candace, smiling at her with a very distinguishable love-struck smile. _He is so smitten with her _I thought with a smile as I noticed Lizzy also grinning.

"It's not Chase's fault Candace. Gill just takes forever to do everything," Lizzy said, grinning at me playfully.

"I feel attacked and that everyone should just stop talking about me. What I was trying to get to though Chase, was I was wondering if you could perhaps make a nice lunch for Lizzy and I to buy. Or, at least, for me to buy."

"You're not buying it all by yourself!" Lizzy said, looking at me sternly.

"Yes I will, you need all the money you can get to have and save for your farm. I don't have anything to do with all I have except spend it on people I like-" I froze and tried covering it up. "-To be with. Friends."

"I'm not allowing it though."

"Well, how about I buy lunch, and you are forced to choose an exact location for us to eat. That seems like reasonable punishment to me I think," I said, smiling at her in what I hoped was a pleasant manner.

"Fine, that sounds, reasonable," she nodded as I noticed Chase and Candace sharing a look between them as they then both looked at us.

"Well then Chase, do you have something I could get, maybe with pasta because that's what Lizzy likes," I asked, turning to him hopefully. He mused something and nodded.

"I think I have just the thing." He went to the kitchen and came back with a basket. "Usually at least one couple comes in every day asking for something like this, so I usually pre-make one. There's two sandwiches, some chilled drinks, snacks, the works, though sadly no pasta. I even threw in a couple of extra tomatoes for you Gill. Quite frankly, this is the best."

"It's not a big deal this sounds perfect but, we're not a couple," Lizzy clarified, looking at Chase skeptically.

"Right, my bad, slip of the tongue," he smirked as I handed him my card to run. He swiped it and handed it and the basket back to me as I turned to Lizzy.

"Well then, looks like we're all set to go," I smiled, a little exhilarated to spend the whole day with her. However, she wasn't looking back at me as I would have hoped, but was instead looking at the door with a look of shock.

"James," she said vaguely, walking up to him with widened eyes. He looked at her with confusion, but embraced her anyways.

"Yes, it's me. I told you packing shouldn't take too long."

"I thought you said it' take the whole day, sorry."

"Its fine, no big deal," he half smiled as he looked around, taking in the whole inn scene, his eyes resting on me and the basket. "Ah, Gill." He nodded to me as I nodded back in the normal guy manner.

"Hello James," I said, trying to keep the disappointment from my voice as I thought of what I was going to do.

"So, what's going on?" he asked casually, still looking at me with the basket then down to Lizzy. I noticed everyone else in the inn was also staring at the three of us, no doubt amused with the typical teenage drama they could witness.

"Nothing, nothing at all," I said, already knowing how fully to respond to the situation. I walked up to where James and Lizzy were standing next to each other as I nodded to them both. "I bought this as a gift for you two, as I know you're leaving soon and would probably appreciate a nice lunch with Lizzy."

"Gill," Lizzy said, looking at me with slight sadness, knowing what I was giving up. I tried giving her a reassuring smile, but noticed James stare was heavily on me still.

"I hope you enjoy it. Chase reassured me how great it would be and you both deserve only the best," I said as I swallowed and handed James the basket. He looked at me suspiciously and down at the basket.

"Thanks Gill, this is very decent of you," he acknowledged a little reluctantly, making me smile. Lizzy was still staring at me and I locked eyes with her, focusing my thoughts and attention to her.

"No problem James. Like I said, only the best for the best." Lizzy's eyes widened a little bit as I smiled and looked back up at James and beamed innocently, my heart full of sadness. "Hope you both enjoy it."

I shook his hand and nodded bashfully to Lizzy, who was still looking at me with shock. Holding my head high, I departed the Inn and made my way to anywhere away from civilization, wanting to let the dissatisfaction hit me complete and powerfully, knowing fully well that by being the bigger man I got not only the shorter end of the stick, but also less time with the most amazing girl on the island.


End file.
